Goods make quick trip from Taiwan to Russia

A China-Europe freight train loaded with automobile lamps and other goods departed on Saturday from Xiamen, Fujian province, and headed for Moscow, Russia.

Before the departure, the lamps, worth about 860,000 yuan ($129,278), had been shipped from Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Once the train arrives in Moscow, goods will be forwarded to a St Petersburg warehouse through proprietary logistics channels after customs clearance, warehousing and other supply chain steps.

Traditional shipping services to Russia from Taiwan and Southeast Asia have been affected since March by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to the administration of the Xiamen Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

The sea-rail intermodal logistics channel from Taiwan to Russia via Xiamen has provided a new quick solution, helping cut transportation time by about half that of traditional shipping services, the administration said.

As of the end of May, 1,147 China-Europe freight trains loaded with goods worth more than 27.7 billion yuan have departed from Xiamen to the European market. Some 2,026 standard containers with goods valued at more than 1 billion yuan, were handled by the integrated sea-rail service.