Port of Guangzhou launches first China-Central Asia freight train

(ECNS) -- The first China-Central Asia freight train hauling 100 containers of goods left for Almaty, Kazakhstan on Saturday from the Port of Guangzhou in south China.

It marks a new international logistics channel for goods from the Pearl River Delta, a manufacturing hub, to go global.

Carrying a variety of commodities including household appliances, daily necessities and hardware products valued at approximately $1.7 million, the train departed from the Xiayuan Station in Guangzhou and will leave China via the Khorgos port in northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The goods will be distributed to Kazakhstan’s neighboring countries in two weeks after arriving in Central Asia.

The new route not only reduces conversions and costs, but also improves the efficiency of international cargo transportation, and widens and deepens logistics connectivity between Guangzhou and Central Asia.

The Port of Guangzhou has launched 10 international trains, including nine to Europe and one to Asia. They contained a total of 1,000 TEUs of commodities ranging from electronic products to raw materials for industrial production, clothes and household appliances.