The First Batch of Containers on the “Hunan-Guangdong-Africa” Rail-Sea Container Freight Train Are Loaded at Guangzhou Port and Shipped to Africa (Picture)




On October 7, the first batch of 86 containers on the “Hunan-Guangdong-Africa” Sea-Rail Container Freight Train for the “Zhuzhou-Nansha Port” Section, carried by the vessel “COSCO YINGKOU”, were shipped to the Port of Mombasa, Kenya, Africa from the Nansha Phase II Terminal of Guangzhou Port. The goods exported from Nansha Port Area this time are important aid material for Africa - rice, with a total weight of 1,935 tons.

As an innovative measure of the China-Africa international logistics channel system, the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa sea-rail transport channel is an important channel for logistics from the central and western China and even all over China to Africa. The Hunan-Guangdong-Africa new logistics channel has initiated the establishment of an “end-to-end” logistics channel from the economic hinterland of Hunan and surrounding provinces to the countries of the African continent, realizing through bill of lading, providing “hinterland to hinterland” and “door to door” logistics services, forming a major logistics channel that radiates across China and supports Pan-Central Africa (Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Latin America) trade, and realizing the seamless intermodal connection between the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”.


Guangzhou Port attaches great importance to the construction of the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa international logistics channel. Each operating company has set up a special working group to coordinate and follow up multiple links, so as to ensure that the goods are transported to Huangpu Port Area by rail and then barged to Nansha Port Area for export to Africa smoothly and efficiently.


The place of departure of the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa new channel - Nansha Port Area of Guangzhou Port is located in the geometric center of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the most economically developed area in China, with an excellent location and a good hinterland. It is close to the main source of goods in the Pearl River Delta. And the comprehensive logistics cost of import and export through Nansha Port Area is the lowest for enterprises. In addition, the port area is seamlessly connected to the three-dimensional transportation network consisting of railways, expressways and inland rivers.


Guangzhou Port is one of the most convenient ports for customs clearance, with its comprehensive indicators of customs clearance time and cost ranking among the top in China. Nansha Port Area is the closest international basic port to Hunan Province. In terms of route distribution in the African navigation area, Nansha Port Area has the advantages of short shipping distance, low cost and high time efficiency and is thus highly accepted in the shipping industry. At present, there are 22 African routes in Nansha Port Area, ranking first in China in terms of the number of container routes to Africa. Its abundant routes have covered all major ports in Africa. In 2020, its export volume to Africa was about 700,000 TEUs. As of September 2021, Guangzhou Port had up to 138 foreign trade routes, with 132 foreign trade routes in Nansha Port Area.


In recent years, Guangzhou Port has set up 30 inland offices in Hunan, the southwest China and other places, forming a hub port integrated logistics service system with seaport as the hub combining the two networks of “sea transport network + inland transport network". With 72 “shuttle bus” branch lines launched to reach the Pearl River Delta, Guangxi, Hainan and other provinces and regions, it has become an important link connecting Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and other provinces and regions in China to the rest of the world. By means of the expansive domestic and foreign trade routes, China-Europe, China-Asia, Hunan-Guangdong-Africa and other sea-rail logistics channels as well as the “shuttle bus + inland port office” high-efficiency and low-carbon operation model, Guangzhou Port has built a safe and efficient integrated logistics system connecting China to the rest of the world, so as to better meet such national strategies as the “Belt and Road” initiative, the rapid development of China's transportation networks, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the “One Core, One Belt and One Zone” in Guangdong.


In the next step, Guangzhou Port will enhance cooperation with all parties, strengthen and expand the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa rail-sea trains, deepen the construction of the modern logistics operation system consisting of “channel + hub + network”, continue to provide better services for customers in Hunan, create greater value, promote the coordinated regional development of Hunan and Guangdong and enhance participation and competitiveness in the international market, so as to create a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main part and with the domestic cycle and the international cycle acting as the mutually supported ones.


The vessel “COSCO Yingkou” called this time is the representative vessel type that joined the “Mashariki East Africa Express” route in the first half of 2020. With COSCO SHIPPING Lines joining the operation of the "East Africa Express”, the route has achieved a strong alliance and complementary advantages. It only calls Mombasa Port, Kenya in Africa for rapid intercontinental sea transport. (Text by Lin Dongsheng, He Jiali and Zou Jingqi, Picture by Zhu Junkun, Xiao Yifei and Lin Yaorong)