2018年CRI Zhengzhou looking to form new international commerce hub

 

Henan's provincial¹ capital, Zhengzhou, is quickly becoming one of China's key gateways³ for international trade.

Located at the heart of country, the city has become a critical hub for the Belt and Road initiative.

At a rail freight terminal in Zhengzhou, stacked with containers, Pei Changming, a staffer with a Tianjin based steel company is checking their products which have been imported from Germany along China-Europe freight line.

Despite having their operations near the sea port in Tianjin, Pei Changming says his company still prefers to use Zhengzhou to export and import their products.

"We have been using rail freight transportation for the past two or three years. The cost of railway is lower than air transport. It's also a lot quicker than ocean transport, which can take as long as two months. When we ship out of Zhengzhou, the rail line gets our products to Europe in four weeks, which is half of the time by sea."

The first freight train connecting Zhengzhou with the German city of Hamburg was launched in 2013.

Four years on, 14 trains are either leaving or arriving in Zhengzhou every week, linking Henan's capital with 121 cities in 24 different countries along the route.

The China-Europe freight rail service in and out of Zhengzhou is fully⁴ loaded both ways.

This creates unique challenges for the Zhengzhou International Hub Development and Construction Corporation, which operates the rail line.

Shi Wensong is the vice-General Manager of the company.

"If you watch the clock, 10:40, 10:37, 10:36, we keep shipping⁵ almost nonstop. Every day we have around 300 orders to deliver. Originally it was only around 100 orders per month. Most of the products are destined⁶ for Europe, mostly to Germany, Poland, Italy and France. The freight usually includes high level electric machines, IT equipment, food and other items. The train also comes loaded on its return trip."

While rail has helped develop Zhengzhou as a gateway² to Europe, it's not the only option.

In 2014, an air freight service began operating between Zhengzhou and Luxembourg.

Dairy products, organic food and other luxury items from Europe are now readily available in central China thanks to the "Silk Road" in the air.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel says he's happy he staked his leadership on links with Zhengzhou.

"So this is my first work. First work since I worked as Prime Minister. I'm very happy I took the right decision because it was planned that we have four flights a week now we have fifteen."

E-commerce is also creating more opportunities for Zhengzhou.

As one of the first 15 cities to trial transnational e-commerce in China, Zhengzhou processed around 30 million online import and export orders in the first half of this year, topping even Shenzhen.

Chinese authorities have laid out plans to turn Zhengzhou into a leading international commerce hub by 2049.

The city is also rapidly becoming a leader in domestic logistics.

1 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

2 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

3 gateways   

n.网关( gateway的名词复数 )；门径；方法；大门口

参考例句：

• Police bullets raked the gateways car. 警察的子弹对着门口的汽车扫射。 来自辞典例句
• No Internet gateways are needed for the programs operation. 该软件的操作不需要互联网网关的支持。 来自互联网

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

6 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。