Huaihua land port builds global connections

International freight routes open gateway for greater trade

In recent years, Huaihua in Central China's Hunan province has accelerated the construction of its international land port and developed the port into an important platform for central areas to be connected with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Association of South East Asian Nations, bolstering the country's dual-circulation development paradigm, reform and opening-up.

On Dec 26, a train loaded with finished paper produced by Yueyang Forest and Paper, under the supervision of Huaihua Customs, departed from Huaihua and traveled southward along the east line of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor to export to Saudi Arabia via Qinzhou Port in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. It marked the 1,000th ASEAN-involved shipment from the Hunan Huaihua International Land Port in 2024.

This year, the land port achieved remarkable results in dispatching 1,000 shipments and completing the annual transportation task five days ahead of schedule. The total freight weight transported was 936,000 metric tons, with a cargo value of approximately 5.4 billion yuan ($739.8 million). Compared to the 455 shipments in 2023, this represents a significant year-on-year increase of 219 percent.

In September 2021, the land port started construction, achieving the first dispatch of multiple routes. In May 2022, the Hunan provincial government granted Huaihua a new mission as the "strategic gateway city for building the western land-sea new corridor" and the only ASEAN freight consolidation center in the province. On July 22, 2022, Huaihua participated for the first time in the interprovincial joint meeting of the western land-sea new corridor held in Chongqing, becoming one of the members within the corridor.

In just three years, the land port has continuously improved its facilities, optimized customs clearance services, and achieved the smooth flow of goods, with a daily container handling volume of 400 twenty-foot equivalent units in the port area and an annual freight throughput of up to 6 million tons.

To facilitate the operation of international freight trains, Huaihua Customs has implemented reform measures such as advanced declaration and direct loading and unloading, promoting models such as railway inbound and outbound rapid customs clearance. It has a total of 700 railway express applications accepted from January to September, has opened a green channel for agricultural product imports and exports, and launched a 24/7 appointment customs clearance service.

Wang Youhua, director of Huaihua Customs, said that the land port has realized efficient customs clearance, declaration and inspection, and become a landmark project for the reform and opening-up of the inland regions.

As of now, the port has opened seven international logistics channels connecting Huaihua to Beibu Gulf Port in Qinzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Zhanjiang Port, Guangzhou Port and Shenzhen Port in Guangdong province, for outbound shipments, as well as cross-border routes to Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.

Statistics show that in the first three quarters of this year, the total import and export value of Huaihua reached 10 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 65.2 percent. Exports achieved 8.76 billion yuan, up 61.3 percent year-on-year, while imports hit 1.24 billion yuan, surging 98.5 percent year-on-year. Among them, exports to ASEAN markets totaled 2.19 billion yuan, an increase of 55.3 percent year-on-year.

Zhang Zhuo contributed to this story.

wangjinhui@chinadaily.com.cn