Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The frequent occurrence of geopolitical risks highlights the role of the China-Europe freight train as a stabilizer.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Gao Wencheng.
For the first time in 30 years, not a single car carrier has crossed the Red Sea. European shipowners lamented the impact of the recent Red Sea crisis. For a period of time, the security situation in the Red Sea has continued to deteriorate, shipping companies have been forced to bypass, the cost of maritime transportation has been substantial, and the arrival time is difficult, which has seriously affected the stability of the global industrial chain. At a time when the shipping dilemma is difficult to solve, news headlines such as "China-Europe freight trains are fully booked ahead of schedule" and "The Red Sea crisis proves that China is ahead of the curve" frequently appear in international newspapers. In the context of frequent geopolitical risks such as the Red Sea crisis and the impact on global logistics and the first chain, the stabilizer role of the China-Europe freight train has become more prominent.
The Red Sea is an important shipping route on the world's shipping routes. After the outbreak of the new Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Houthis launched attacks in the waters of the Red Sea to show their support for the Palestinians. The United States and other countries launched airstrikes on Houthi targets, which led to further tensions. Many international shipping companies were forced to suspend the Red Sea route and bypass the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, and the time cost of Asia-Europe travel increased sharply, and the transportation cost more than doubled, resulting in an imbalance in the global industrial chain and triggering a chain reaction.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, about 47% of toys and 40% of home appliances and apparel shipments on East Asia-Europe routes are being affected by freight rates** and delayed arrivals. It is difficult to deliver some industrial raw materials, and the parts factories of large enterprises such as Tesla and Volvo in Belgium and other places have been forced to suspend production. Jan Hoffmann, head of the Logistics Division of the United Nations and the Conference on Development, said the Red Sea crisis "is having a devastating impact on an already fragile global and chain" and that "these disruptions highlight the vulnerability of maritime transport in the face of geopolitics, tensions and climate change".
In the face of risks, the global logistics industry is more aware of the "vulnerability" mentioned by Hoffman, re-examining the transportation options of goods, and looking for safer and more reliable transportation solutions. In early February, the U.S. consumer news and business channel ** quoted Igor Tembaka, executive director of Dutch Rail Bridge Freight Company, as saying that in the past four weeks, China-Europe freight train bookings have increased by 37%, and "the demand for rail transport has surged**". The main reason for the "early booking" of the China-Europe train is that this transportation line provides the most scarce resource in the global industrial chain - stability.
The China-Europe Railway Express is less affected by the external environment and has high stability. The China-Europe train has opened several full-time timetable lines, and the railways of various countries along the line arrange fixed trains, routes, schedules and operating hours, focusing on reasonable control of port station reloading, handover and other operational links, and the whole transportation time at home and abroad is relatively fixed, which provides stable expectations for customers' production organization, logistics and capital turnover, and can better ensure the smooth flow of the international industrial chain. The United States** noted that geopolitical risks, such as the Red Sea crisis, exposed the vulnerability of the maritime chokepoint, compared to the greater reliability and punctuality of freight traffic by trans-Eurasian rail.
In addition to improving the stability of the first chain, the China-Europe train also has obvious cost-effective advantages. Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" quoted industry insiders as saying that after the outbreak of the Red Sea crisis, the freight demand for China-Europe trains has reached **100. The railway container freight from Chongqing to Europe has increased by about 20 due to changes in supply and demand, but it is still about 30% cheaper than the current sea freight rate, and the sea freight has lost its advantage compared with the China-Europe train. Higher efficiency is the natural advantage of China-Europe freight trains for sea transportation. It only takes 15 to 20 days for the China-Europe train to travel from Chongqing to Europe, which is 7 to 10 days faster than the Red Sea shipping. The efficiency of the China-Europe Railway Express is still improving. At present, it only takes 10 days to travel from Xi'an to Duisburg, Germany, which is two days shorter than in 2023 and about a week shorter than the earliest train.
The Red Sea crisis proves that China is ahead of the curve. As the main interconnection artery of the high-quality Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Europe Express has connected 219 cities in 25 European countries and built a safe and smooth lifeline of production and supply chain in a turbulent world. The China-Europe freight train transportation service network basically covers the entire Eurasian continent, effectively expanding economic and trade exchanges between China and countries along the route, deepening international cooperation in production capacity, accelerating the cross-border flow of factor resources, and injecting new impetus into the development of the Eurasian continent.
"The Belt and Road Initiative represents what every country should do for its own benefit: to build as many channels as possible. This can both hedge against unforeseen disruptions and enhance the country's connectivity and influence. "It is worth mentioning that the China-Europe freight train and the shipping route are not in competition with each other and competing for resources, but in a complementary relationship, which together constitute an indispensable channel network between China and Europe.
The world economy runs without global freight and commodities**. In the context of geopolitical conflicts that have hit the global ** chain, the advantages and contributions of China-Europe freight trains are precious. This also shows once again that in the context of today's global risks and challenges, the Belt and Road Initiative is of increasingly important strategic significance and epochal value for stabilizing and prospering the world economy.