The Qingdao multimodal transportation center in the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area. [Photo/WeChat account: shsfqgwh]

From January to June this year, Qingdao in East China's Shandong province operated a total of 520 China-Europe freight trains, the most in the province. Twenty-two international operational routes connect 54 cities in 23 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states and countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

At the Qingdao multimodal transportation center in the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area, the continuous operation of China-Europe freight trains, with their efficient, stable, and cost-effective transportation services, has led to the formation of a comprehensive international logistics channel for Qingdao and Shandong.

This channel connects with the Asia-Pacific region in the east, Central Asia and Europe in the west, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and South Asia in the south, and Mongolia and Russia in the north. It serves as a convenient land bridge for trade between China and the world, creating a broad platform for the common development of the global economy and cultural exchange.

Earlier this year, Shandong High-Speed Qilu Eurasia Railway Logistics Co Ltd partnered with Atasu Group in Kazakhstan to launch the land-sea express line from China to Japan and South Korea. Through the new transit freight services, in the first half of the year, 2,040 twenty-foot equivalent units of Chery vehicles were shipped through sea-rail intermodal transportation, totaling 3,060 vehicles with a value of approximately 400 million yuan ($55 million).