Chongqing boosts China-Europe freight train capacity for automotive exports

A China-Europe freight train carrying new 40-foot multipurpose containers with a 35-ton capacity departed from Chongqing in southwestern China on Monday, marking an innovation that makes vehicle rail transport services more efficient. The containers transported 182 cars from China Changan Automobile Group Co., Ltd., an automaker headquartered in Chongqing, one of China’s major automotive manufacturing hubs. With these new containers, Chongqing is boosting the capacity of its China-Europe freight train services to meet the continuously rising demand for automobile export transport. Guan Yu, manager of the Marketing Department at the Chengdu branch of China Railway Container Transport Corp., Ltd., said the 12.2-metre multipurpose car container with a 35-ton capacity is innovative equipment designed for exporting domestically produced passenger vehicles. Guan noted that compared to conventional multipurpose containers, which can only carry a maximum of three sedans or two SUVs, the new container can hold up to four sedans or four SUVs per unit, thereby reducing transport costs per vehicle. Meanwhile, Huang Man, deputy general manager of Yuxinou (Chongqing) Logistics Co., Ltd., stated that the new container is designed to be compatible with rail, road, and sea transport, offering more flexible equipment options for building an efficient multimodal transport network. He also said that demand for transporting domestically manufactured vehicles for export has been continuously increasing in recent years.