URUMQI: With the continuous advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative, Horgos, a border city located in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has developed closer ties with the world, with the launch of the China-Europe freight trains injecting new vitality into this inland port city.
Since the flag-off of the first China-Europe freight train at Horgos station in 2016, over 36,000 China-Europe (Central Asia) freight trains have passed through Horgos Port.
The annual number of these trains has surged from fewer than 400 in 2016 to over 7,000 in 2022. In 2023, 7,762 trains passed through Horgos, marking a year-on-year increase of 9.8 percent.
Ye Mengting, a staff member at Xinjiang Zhonglian Haitong International Freight Forwarders Co., Ltd., has been busy lately, handling customs clearance procedures.
“Almost every weekday, I go to the Horgos railway port to handle customs clearance for goods traveling via China-Europe freight trains,” Ye said. Her job involves checking various details on the international consignment notes, which include information about the consignor and consignee, the name and quantity of the goods, the transport route and the costs.
Each container corresponds to an international consignment note, ensuring the goods are properly managed and tracked during transportation, she added. Ye’s company handles about 200 consignment notes daily.
Ye has been working in this role for more than two years and has seen a significant improvement in the efficiency of handling customs clearance. –Agencies
