In an effort to speed up trade with Africa, China is using hybrid logistics links or multimodal rail-sea lines to bypass cargo chokepoints.
For instance, the city of Chengdu in southwestern China opened the Chengdu-Europe-Africa rail-sea transport line this month to move freight to Morocco via the German port of Hamburg, as the North African nation emerges as the centre for tripartite trade. The train, carrying mostly textiles from Chengdu, will arrive in Hamburg via the China-Europe Railway Express. The goods will then travel by sea to its final destination, Morocco’s Port of Casablanca. The journey will take an estimated 35 days. The new line is expected to help companies in western China export goods to Africa as part of Beijing’s strategy to increase exports from the western provinces, which are less developed than coastal regions.
Morocco is of course a strategic location because of its proximity to Europe and the Middle East.
Opening new routes served not just an economic purpose but a political one as well, since it conveyed the message that the Belt and Road Initiative was succeeding. He said the Chinese government provided generous subsidies for these routes, making it difficult to assess their economic viability or profitability.
Source: scmp.com
