The Ereenhot Railway Port in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region is expected to open new routes to Russian cities later this year to support growing trade flows.

For the year to Nov 20, the port saw a record 3,500 China-Europe freight train trips, a milestone marked by the departure of a train with 55 containers for Russia. It is the first time this rail trade volume has been reached between the two countries since the service began in 2013.

Yang Dongdong, technical manager at the port, said it has handled over 3,000 China-Europe freight trains annually for three consecutive years.

"The sustained growth is driven by deepening economic ties under the Belt and Road Initiative and the port's pivotal role as the exclusive border crossing for the route's central corridor," Yang said.

The growth is reflected in the expansion of routes, from just two in 2013 to 74 today, connecting China with over 70 logistics hubs in more than 10 European countries, including Germany and Poland. The addition of new routes this year, such as those from Wuhu in Anhui province and Datong in Shanxi province to cities in Russia, has woven a denser network.

"Since the beginning of this year, the return freight trains have achieved remarkable results, with a cumulative total of 1,760 trains received, accounting for 50.3 percent of the total trains operated — a year-on-year increase of 28.7 percent," Yang said.

The categories of transported goods have shown no significant changes in recent years. Exports primarily consist of automobiles, electronic products, home appliances and general merchandise, while imports are mainly composed of timber and paper.

"The historic milestone of 3,500 trains is powered by an interconnected system: fundamentally fueled by robust international cooperation and trade demand, critically supported by the ever-expanding route network, and powerfully accelerated by continuously optimized customs clearance and operational efficiency," Yang said.

The booming business brings new opportunities to China's enterprises. Meng Xiangyu, business manager at a local freight company, has directly benefited from the operation of the China-Europe freight train network. Since 2018, he has been utilizing the freight train service for international business.

"It provides a cheaper, more efficient and safe way to transport goods," he said.

He has also been able to engage new clients both domestically and abroad, leading to a considerable growth in overseas merchant network and promising vast prospects for trade development.

To further enhance the operational efficiency and service quality, the port has advanced the dialogue mechanism with Mongolia's Zamiin-Uud Station. This initiative deepens the "two-station integration "organizational model at the border stations, facilitating the mutual sharing of information on train flow structures and station inventory, while coordinating solutions for issues related to train reception and dispatch, loading and unloading operations, and traffic organization.

Through the digital port system, the port has further promoted paperless customs clearance, strengthened information exchange with customs and border inspection departments, and innovated supervision models while optimizing inspection processes.

"These efforts have improved end-to-end transportation efficiency, reducing the customs clearance time for China-Europe freight train by over 5 percent year-on-year," Yang added.

The port is expected to accelerate the construction of the second-line project for standard and broad gauges between the Ereenhot and Zamiin-Uud railway ports.

Yang said that by capitalizing on capacity expansion, efficiency improvements and upgrades for China-Europe freight trains, the port will assess operational capacity and establish new models for transportation organization to achieve year-on-year growth in port throughput, enhance clearance efficiency, and ensure the smooth and efficient operation of international rail transport corridors.