On Saturday May 12 the first Silk Road train headed exclusively for Antwerp arrived. The goods train, which left the Chinese port town of Tangshan on April 26, was officially welcomed to the port of Antwerp.
'Belt and Road Initiative'
The train is part of the framework of the 'Belt & Road Initiative' (BRI), the ambitious development programme of the Chinese President Xi Jingping. This creates increased Euro-Asian connectivity through large infrastructure works and a revival of the 'Silk Road', the historic trade route between Europe and the Far East which is an efficient land bridge connection besides the traditional maritime connection.
First direct train connection from China to Antwerp
The train left the Chinese port town of Tangshan on April 26 and travelled through Alashankou, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Poland and Germany to arrive at it's final destination, the port of Antwerp, after 16 days and a distance of 11,000 km. This is the first train to come to Antwerp from China directly.
The service is an initiative of Tangshan City & Tangshan Port, in collaboration with the Chinese state shipping line Cosco Shipping Lines and the Chinese Railways (CRCT).
The recipient of the shipment was Cosco Shipping Belgium, which takes care of through transport to the final customers. The train has a total load of 34 containers with industrial minerals that are used in various productions, such as paper and ceramic production, toothpaste and cosmetics. They are unloaded at Euroports, who will transfer them to their bulk terminal and distribute them further in Europe.
Luc Arnouts, director of international networks at Havenbedrijf Antwerpen: "This direct train connection puts our port on the BRO map and will strengthen the existing bond with China further. We have been working on this for a very long time and it is therefore an important milestone in our trade relations with China."
Marc Van Peel, schepen voor haven adds:
"China is the fourth most important partner country for Antwerp, with a traffic of almost 14 million tonnes of goods annually. Antwerp is ideally located on both the maritime and rail routes between Europe and China and our situation is perfect for functioning as an overhaul port for the trade between China and Africa by rail."
Geert Gekiere, Managing Director Euroports Belgium:
"We are proud and honoured to be allowed to unload and further handle the largest shipment of this first direct train between China and Antwerp. We encourage our customers to optimise their supply chain and this is why almost all our terminals support road, rail and water connections. Transport from the Tangshan area via traditional container ships takes an average of +35 days, whilst this train can do it in a record time of 16-20 days, and for relatively low costs."
Future collaboration
The local Chinese government intends to send a direct train to Antwerp once or twice a month. Tangshan City is therefore seeking a closer collaboration with the port of Antwerp and wants to make a MOU/Sisterhood agreement with Antwerp. CRCT (Chinese Rail) is currently examining the feasibility of setting up a commercial office in Europe.
Source: Port of Antwerp