Sea-rail container transport from Shanghai has gone up 30% year-on-year in 2024, to 900,000 TEUs.
Authorities have worked to connect Shanghai with more hinterland locations, in line with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Shanghai’s sea-rail transport routes now cover more than 40 cities in nine provinces across China, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Sichuan.
Shanghai Port Sea-Rail Transport’s deputy marketing manager Zhong Bin said: “Shanghai’s sea-rail transport cargo exports have repeatedly achieved good results, which is a microcosm of coordinated operations and common development in the Yangtze River Delta region.”
China State Railway Group (China Railway) handled a record 1 billion tonnes in 3Q 2024, while container volumes for the period went up 17% year-on-year to 9.6 million TEUs. Rail freight to and from China has also been boosted by western sanctions against Russia that have seen container shipping companies suspending calls to the latter country. This has forced Russia to turn to rail as an alternative.
The Chinese state has been pushing for a modal shift in transportation, and with the increasingly close cooperation between railways, ports and other departments, sea-rail transport is becoming an important means to extend economic and trade exchanges among countries in the Belt and Road.
Shanghai Railway’s head of multimodal transport Li Lin said: “We will continue to promote sea-rail transport by expanding routes to effectively reduce logistics costs.”