The China Europe freight train in the SCO demonstration zone has a good start. In January, 70000 tons of goods were shipped (see picture)

The picture shows: Customs officers verifying container seals on site, photographed by Wang Zhenwei

Recently, after completing customs clearance procedures at Jiaozhou Customs under Qingdao Customs, a China Europe freight train carrying 110 standard containers immediately departed. The train is loaded with car parts, TV parts, tires and other goods, and will exit through the Alashankou Port before finally arriving in Kustanay, Kazakhstan, with a total travel time of 9 days.

According to statistics from Qingdao Customs, in January 2026, a total of 98 China Europe freight trains were operated in the SCO demonstration zone, a year-on-year increase of 11.4%. The total weight of goods transported was 70000 tons, and the number of trains arriving and departing reached a new historical high for the same period, achieving a "good start" to the new year.

The China Europe freight train in the SCO demonstration zone has not only achieved a breakthrough in quantity, but also a qualitative improvement. In January, the SCO Demonstration Zone successfully completed its first multimodal transportation test for imported goods. Under the new model, customs clearance can be completed with just one declaration at the entry port, simplifying cumbersome procedures and reducing waiting time. This not only improves logistics efficiency but also reduces the overall logistics cost for enterprises. Jiaozhou Customs has set up a dedicated post to provide round the clock appointment clearance services. Goods can be inspected and released upon arrival, achieving one-stop processing of declaration, review, inspection and other links.

The customs will continue to optimize the supervision service mode and continuously improve the gathering capacity of the China Europe freight train, "said Song Tao, Deputy Director of Jiaozhou Customs. The customs will continue to deepen the supervision mode of multimodal transport of import and export goods, further improve the operation process, provide more efficient customs clearance guarantees for local economic and trade cooperation between SCO countries, and help the SCO demonstration zone build an international logistics hub.

Since China announced the construction of the SCO Demonstration Zone in Qingdao in 2018, the SCO Demonstration Zone has regularly run 22 international train routes, accessible to 54 cities in 23 countries of the SCO and the "the Belt and Road" Initiative, and built a logistics hub network connecting Japan and South Korea in the east, Eurasia in the west, Mongolia and Russia in the north, and ASEAN in the south.

As of now, the customs have supervised a total of 5589 China Europe freight trains to and from the SCO demonstration zone, shipped 458000 TEUs of containers, transported 3.87 million tons of import and export goods, served over 7000 foreign trade enterprises, and expanded the types of goods carried to nearly a thousand. (Zhang Zhenxing/Text)