The Evolution of Rail Freight: A 16-Fold Increase in Vietnam-China Trade via Guangxi in Just 7 Months

According to statistics from the Nanning branch of China Railway Group Limited, the Vietnam-China freight train route departing from Guangxi Province transported 1,922 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in July, setting a new record for monthly cargo volume three times this year.

From the beginning of the year to July 31, a total of 6,850 TEUs were transported on this rail route, a sixteen-fold increase compared to the same period last year, becoming a new “fast lane” boosting economic and trade exchanges between the two countries.

Mr. Zhang Jun, an official from the Nanning Railway Logistics Center, told the China Economic Daily that before the launch of the China-Vietnam express clearance train last year, there were only one to two trains per week. Now, this train basically runs daily, and during peak periods, it can run up to three times a day, with a high demand for transportation.

It is known that this railway line was inaugurated on November 28, 2017, with the first cross-border container train departing from Nanning South Station in Guangxi to Yen Vien Station in Hanoi.

Since June 2023, the Chinese railway sector has regularly operated China-Vietnam express clearance trains on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The travel time from Nanning South Station to Yen Vien Station has been reduced to 14 hours, with a 70% increase in cargo transportation efficiency compared to the initial period, allowing goods to be transported, arrived, and cleared on the same day.

In the last five years, the variety of import and export cargo transported on this rail route has increased from 116 types and 14 types in 2019 to 364 types and 180 types, respectively. The cargo collection points have covered more than 20 cities in Guangxi and neighboring provinces in China, transporting cross-border goods to ASEAN countries such as Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.

Chinese media believes that the opening of the China-Vietnam railway line not only helps consolidate and deepen economic and trade cooperation between the two countries but also lays a solid foundation for building a more convenient and efficient international logistics network.

Looking ahead, with the expanding scale of bilateral trade between China and Vietnam, the China-Vietnam railway is expected to play a greater role and make more significant contributions to the prosperity and development of international trade.