With the gradual resumption of work and production around the world, especially since the beginning

 of this year, the demand for international transport has increased, port congestion, difficult to obtain 

a box, and shipping prices have also risen sharply.

As a long-term observer in the field of international shipping, Chen Yang, editor-in-chief of the

 professional shipping information consulting platform Xinde Maritime Network, told First Finance

 and Economics that since the second half of 2020, the tense situation of the container supply 

chain has not been significantly improved, and the freight rate this year has repeatedly hit a record high.

 Even with the volatility, freight rates from Asia to West America are still more than ten times higher than

 before the pandemic. It is conservatively estimated that this situation will continue until 2022, and even 

some analysts think it will continue until 2023, "the industry's"

Citic Construction Investment also believes that the super peak season of consolidated transportation

 will be extended by a record, and under the influence of the epidemic and various events, the chaos 

of the global supply chain has intensified, and there is still no sign of improvement in the relationship

 between supply and demand. Although new small carriers continue to join the Pacific market, 

the overall effective capacity of the market remains at about 550,000 TEUs per week, which has 

no significant effect on the improvement of the supply and demand relationship. Under the epidemic

 situation, ports have upgraded the control of attached vessels, exacerbating the delay of schedules

 and the contradiction between supply and demand. The unilateral market pattern caused by the

 serious imbalance between supply and demand may continue for a long time.

The continued strong market demand corresponds to the "acceleration" of China-Europe freight

 trains in the face of the epidemic. Official data show that since the beginning of this year, through 

the Manzhouli railway port inbound and outbound China-Europe freight trains have broken through 

the 3,000 mark, compared with last year, nearly two months ahead of the completion of 3,000 tasks,

 showing a sustained rapid growth trend.

According to the National Railway Administration's "China-Europe Freight Train Data Report", 

in the first half of this year, the capacity of the three major corridors was further improved, 

among which 3,810 trains were operated on the Western corridor, an increase of 51%. The

eastern Corridor opened 2,282 trains, up 41% year-on-year; The Central Channel opened 

1,285 lines, an increase of 27% year-on-year.

Under the tension of international shipping and the rapid rise in freight rates, the Central

 European Class provides supplementary programs for foreign trade enterprises.

Chen Zheng, general manager of Shanghai Xinlian Textile Import and Export Co., LTD., told First

 Finance that the transportation time of the China-Europe train has now been compressed to about 

2 weeks, and the specific freight amount varies due to different agents, while the freight price 

of a 40-foot container is currently about 11,000 US dollars, and the shipping container freight

 has risen to nearly 20,000 US dollars, so if enterprises use the China-Europe train, To a certain

 extent, it can save costs, and the transportation time is not bad.

From August to September this year, a large number of Christmas supplies could not be

 shipped out in time due to "one box is difficult to obtain". Qiu Xuemei, general manager

 of Dongyang Weijiu Arts and Crafts Co., LTD., told First Financial News that they are considering

 transferring some goods destined for Russia or Middle Eastern countries from sea to land exports.

However, the rapid growth of China-Europe freight trains is still not enough to form an alternative

 to sea transport.

Chen Zheng said that the international transport of goods is still dominated by sea, accounting 

for about 80%, and air transport accounts for 10% to 20%, while the proportion and volume

 of China-Europe freight trains are relatively limited, which can provide supplementary schemes, 

but cannot replace sea or air transport. Therefore, the symbolic significance of the China-Europe

 train is greater.

According to data from the Ministry of Transport, in 2020, the container throughput of coastal 

ports was 230 million TEUs, while the China-Europe freight trains carried 1.135 million TEUs of 

goods. From January to August this year, the container throughput of coastal ports across the

 country was 160 million TEU, while in the same period, the total number of containers sent by 

China-Europe freight trains was only 964,000 TEU.

Yang Jie, commissioner of the International Freight Train Advisory Service Center of the China 

Transport Association, also believes that although the Sino-European freight train can replace 

only a very small number of goods, the channel role of the Sino-European freight train will

 undoubtedly be further strengthened.

In fact, the current popularity of China-Europe freight trains is not a temporary situation, and 

the reason behind it is not only because of the skyrocketing sea freight.

"The advantages of China's dual-cycle pattern are first reflected in its economic and trade

 relations with the EU." Wei Jianguo, former vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce and 

vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that from the 

perspective of economic relations, from January to August this year, Sino-European trade was

 528.9 billion US dollars, an increase of 32.4%, of which China's exports were 322.55 billion US 

dollars, an increase of 32.4%, and China's imports were 206.35 billion US dollars, an increase of 

32.3%.

Wei Jianguo believes that this year, the EU will likely surpass ASEAN again and return to the status 

of China's largest trading partner. This also means that China and the EU will become each other's 

largest trading partner, and "China-Eu economic and trade relations will usher in another village."

Although the proportion of Sino-European economic and trade currently carried by 

Sino-European freight trains is quite limited, he expects that Sino-European trade will exceed 

700 billion US dollars, and with the rapid increase of Sino-European freight trains, it will likely

 carry 40 billion to 50 billion US dollars of international transport of goods, which has great potential.

It is worth mentioning that many countries are attaching more importance to China-Europe

 express trains and improving the efficiency of customs clearance. "The ports of China-Europe 

freight trains are better than those of the United States and ASEAN in terms of congestion 

relief and container handling. This makes the China-Europe freight train act as a commando in

 Sino-European trade." "Although it is not yet the main force, it plays a good outpost role," Wei said.

Enterprises also have greater feelings about this. Alice, shipping manager of Youhe (Yiwu) 

Trading Co., LTD., told First Finance that the company, which originally exported mainly to

 the United States, has also increased its exports to the European market this year, with an

 increase of about 50%. This has further increased their attention to China-Europe freight trains.

From the perspective of the types of goods transported, the cargo transported by the China-Europe

 railway has expanded from the initial electronic products such as laptops to more than 50,000

 product types such as auto parts and vehicles, chemicals, machinery and equipment, 

e-commerce mail packages, medical equipment, etc. The annual freight transported by

 the railway has increased from 8 billion US dollars in 2016 to nearly 56 billion US dollars 

in 2020, an increase of nearly 7 times.

The "empty" situation of China-Europe freight trains is also improving: in the first half of 2021, 

the return to the destination ratio reached 85%, the best level in history.

On September 28, the first China-Europe train "Shanghai" will give full play to the role of the 

return train to pull imports - in mid-October, the China-Europe train "Shanghai" will return to

 Shanghai from Europe, and a number of exhibits such as audio, large sanitation vehicle 

positioning instrument, nuclear magnetic resonance instrument and other equipment from

 European countries will enter the country by the train to participate in the fourth CIIF. Next,

 it will also take advantage of transportation efficiency and introduce more high-value goods such

 as wine, luxury goods and high-end instruments into the Chinese market by cross-border rail.