A new freight train service has been launched connecting the Port of Yingtan in the north-Chinese province of Tangshan with Antwerp in Belgium. The first train will arrive in the Belgium capital this weekend.

A train carrying 41 containers of Chinese products, such as kaoline and yeast, departed on 26 April from Yingtang Port District in the city of Tangshan, marking the inauguration of the new service on the New Silk Road. The train will travel 11,000 kilometres, transiting through  Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. The train service will cut transport time from the usual 45 days by sea, to just 16 days.

Tangshan hub

Tangshan, situated at a 150-kilometre distance from Beijing, is set to become an important freight hub. It is a gateway to the Bohai Sea, and as such the new freight service offers not only a new route for westbound cargo from the Chinese cities of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, but also from Japan and the Republic of Korea. Tangshan handled 573 million tonnes of freight last year, according to the city government.