On March 24, 2021, a "Xiangyang-Xi'an-Europe" international freight train loaded with 50 containers departed from the railroad logistics yard of Xiangyang GEMAC Logistics Park. This special train is laden with "Made in Xiangyang" auto parts, electronic equipment, anti-epidemic supplies and clothing and daily necessities, with a total value of about USD 3.57 million. Thirty-six hours later, the train will arrive at Xi'an Port to assemble and transfer, and then leave the country via Alataw Pass Port along the Lanzhou-Lianyungang Railway, together with the China Railway Express (Chang’an) train. The train will pass through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and other countries and arrive at Duisburg in 15 days, and the whole journey takes 21 days.

The event was attended by leaders of the Xiangyang Municipal Party Committee, the Xiangyang Municipal People's Government, the administrative committee of the free trade zone, the commerce bureau, Xi'an International Land Port Investment & Development Group Co., Ltd. (ITL Group), the customs of X'an Railway Station, and the Xi'an branch of China United International Rail Containers Co., Ltd., as well as the relevant heads of local foreign trade enterprises in Xiangyang. A seminar on the high-quality development of "Xiangyang-Xi'an-Europe" international freight trains was held on the spot. All attendees witnessed this important moment when the government and enterprises sat together to talk about the development of the export-oriented economy.

According to Li Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Xiangyang Municipal Party Committee and vice mayor of Xiangyang, the ancient Silk Road started from Chang'an (now Xi'an) in the Western Han Dynasty and Luoyang in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Xiangyang and Xi'an, as important node cities on this road, were the hubs that people at that time had to stop by when they wanted to go to Europe via the Western Regions or go to sea via Cochin (now in northern Vietnam) and Fuzhou. In March 2019, Xiangyang International Land Port Investment Holding Co., Ltd. launched seamless cooperation with ITL Group to open the "Xiangyang-Xi'an-Europe" freight train, striving to build a top logistics trunk line spanning Europe's hinterland. In the past two years, with strong support from all parties, the "Xiangyang-Xi'an-Europe" train started stable and regular operations. Taking advantage of the unique advantages of international railway intermodal transport, this train assumed many tasks of transporting cargo from airplanes and ships to Europe, Southeast Asia and America. The "Xiangyang-Xi'an-Europe" train has helped build a safe, efficient and convenient international channel of import and export trade for exporting Xiangyang's commodities to Europe and importing European products, and has played an important role in enhancing Xiangyang's opening-up and integrating into the new development pattern of "dual circulation", in which domestic and overseas markets reinforce each other. In the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Xiangyang will make every effort to establish a backbone national comprehensive transportation hub. It will strengthen the aggregation effect of trade industries and build a new leading area for the open economy.

According to Qu Jinwei, Party committee secretary and chairman of ITL Group, Xi'an is the starting point of the ancient Silk Road and an important node city in the Belt and Road Initiative. In order to speed up the construction of China Railway Express (Xi'an) Collaboration Center, Xi'an International Trade & Logistics Park has opened 13 routes for domestic trains to assemble, including "Xiangyang-Xi'an-Europe", "Xuzhou-Xi'an-Europe", "Xiamen-Xi'an-Tashkent" and "Tangshan-Xi'an-Europe", providing solid support for the high-quality operation of China Railway Express (Chang'an). The"Xiangyang-Xi'an-Europe" train is a "domestic + international" freight train that has been opened to traffic earliest. It is a vivid demonstration of the integration of the governments of the two countries into the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It effectively promotes the rapid economic and trade development and industrial agglomeration in Xi'an and Xiangyang, connects the free trade zones of Shaanxi and Hubei closely, and realizes the seamless economic connection between the Hanjiang River Basin and Europe. Next, we will continue to further cooperation, make full use of the resource advantages of the two countries, and rely on the stable operation of the "Xiangyang-Xi'an-Europe" train to share mature logistics resources at home and abroad and the cooperation opportunities of international industry development and jointly build an international trade passage with high efficiency, low costs and excellent services.

The train departs from Xiangyang and transits at Xi'an Port. Its transportation cost equals that of sea transportation, but the transportation time is only half of that of sea transportation. It is reported that on March 22, 2019, Xiangyang International Land Port Investment Holding Co., Ltd. cooperated with ITL Group to open the "Xiangyang-Xi'an-Europe" train. Since the "Xiangyang-Xi'an-Europe" train was opened to traffic, it has maintained a regular weekly operation. Up to now, it has shipped a total of 1,936 containers. The opening of the "Xiangyang-Xi'an-Europe" train provides important logistics support for Xiangyang's enterprises and products to go global, and accelerates the construction of the China Railway Express (Xi'an) Collaboration Center, playing an important role in promoting the governments of the two countries to integrate into the BRI. Since the "Xiangyang-Xi'an-Europe" train was opened to traffic two years ago, it has achieved a growth in shipment volume under the severe foreign trade situation, and its comprehensive services have also been unanimously praised by enterprises!

After the event, both parties also negotiated and exchanged on matters such as the inter-zone transfer and mutual recognition of loading in special customs supervision zones.

In the future, ITL Group always adheres to the concept of high-quality and efficient development to build the China Railway Express (Xi'an) Collaboration Center, continuously improve the quality and frequency of trains of China Railway Express (Chang'an) and build the inland international trade passage featuring high efficiency, low costs and excellent services, making contributions to the construction of the BRI!

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the export volume increased sharply in 2020 and numerous containers cannot return to China from overseas in a short time. As a result, the domestic market was in urgent need of containers in the second half of the year. The container rental in the CRE market has also increased significantly, with the average export rental per container rising by about 2,000–2,500 US dollars, seriously affecting clients' shipment.According to container leasing companies, almost all containers are in transit with no idle ones in China, which also aggravates the shortage of containers in the CRE market.

In November 2020, Xi'an International Inland Port Multimodal Transportation Co., Ltd. made a quick decision to purchase thousands of its own containers in bulk and put them into the CRE market for clients after studying and analyzing the market situation and the supply and demand of containers.

In January 2021, this batch of containers wasrushed to the cooperative storage yards of the company in Xi'an and Shanghai before the peak period of container use.

As the pandemic caused clients different difficulties, the company put forward some solutions for the benefit of them as follows:

First, the company strove to solve the problem of bulk cargo loading. Within-depth understanding of clients' difficulties, the company actively arranged sites for them, carried out nucleic acid tests among workers, took the lead in ensuring the resumption of work, and solved the problem of bulk cargo loading in the Port of Xi'an.

Second, the company tried to overcome the problem of congestion at its storage yards. Due to the closure of surrounding storage yards, staff at the company's storage yards provided clients with 24/7 service in short-distance transshipping, loading and unloading, and storage to ensure the normal flow of goods. The company also offered free translation/interpretation services, which solved the urgent need of clients.

Last, the company made great efforts to ensure the normal flow of goods. Itwas determined to build a green channel to ensure rapid passage of vehicles and stable operation of trains. Therefore, it actively sought the cooperation withthe customs of Xi'an Railway Station, China Railway Xi'an Group Co., Ltd. and the Port Bureau of Management Committeeto meet the urgent shipping demand of clients.

Newly produced containers have been transported to Poland, Germany, Russia, the United States and other countries through CRE Chang'an international freight trains, greatly alleviating the shortage of containers for its clients.

The company will adhere to the goal of high-quality development, wholeheartedly carry out service tracking, and properly allocate the resources of all parties to avoid damage to the clients' benefits.

The first train of China Railway Express (CRE) Chang'an international freight train (Xi'an to Vilnius) set off on February 12, 2021, the Chinese New Year's Day. This train was loaded with 50 containers of cargo, including 15 containers of pandemic prevention and control supplies such as masksand protective clothing.

Among the international freight lines from Xi'an, the "Xi'an-Vilnius" line is a northern line with wide coverage and good time efficiency, which can further lay the market foundation of CRE Chang'an international freight trains in Northern Europe. Since its opening in 2020, the Xi'an-Vilnius line has received much attention and praise, and has become an important trade route along the "Belt and Road".Recently, the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in China sent a letter to express its sincere gratitude for the long-standing service of the weekly round-trip CRE Chang'an international freight train from Xi'an to Vilnius.

The regular operation of the Xi'an-Vilnius line not only strengthens the bilateral cooperation between China and Lithuania but also provides more business opportunities for the countries along the "Belt and Road". The Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in China hoped the Lithuanian Railways and Xi’an International Inland Port Multimodal Transportation Co., Ltd. would strengthen cooperation and jointly explore more potential markets for the Xi'an-Vilnius line.

Since Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, becomes a new drop-off point for the German Express of the CRE Chang'an international freight train, the market demand has grown rapidly. As of September 18, 2020, a regular train loaded with export cargo departs from Xi'an every week and heads to Vilnius. Up to now, 19 CRE Chang'an international freight trains (Xi'an-Vilnius) have finished the transportation for a total of 757 containers of cargo. The Xi'an-Vilnius line takes only 8 days for the whole journey, which gives it strong competitiveness in transportation time efficiency. As the train runs in a broad-gauge railway, it reduces one changeover work. Now, the cargoes applicable to this route mainly include computer and instrument products, industrial products and textiles, etc., and a larger share of cargoes are transported with Less-than-Container-Load (LCL) shipments.

In 2020, the CRE Chang'an international freight trains carried more than 1,500 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) of various types of pandemic prevention and control supplies, providing strong support for international cooperation in pandemic prevention and control. In the same year, the first CRE Chang'an international freight train (Istanbul-Xi'an) and CRE Chang'an international freight train specially assigned for Lenzing AG(Vienna-Xi'an) made the maiden journey, which was recognized and supported by the Ambassador of Turkey to China and the Ambassador of Austria to China.

The international recognition highlights the positive contribution of CRE Chang'an international freight trains to the deepening of practical cooperation between countries.

"ITL Clouding Terminal", intelligent logistics hub platform for international multi-modal transportation under the guidance of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) built by Xi'an International Inland Port Multimodal Transportation Co., Ltd. ( ITL Group), successfully passed over-one-year test of road-and-rail combined transport and sea-rail inter-modal transportation and on January 26th passed air-sea inter-modal transportation test. On January 27, this multi-modal transportation logistics platform "ITL Clouding Terminal" featuring openness, transparency and convenience for small and medium-sized enterprises officially rolled out its trial operation.

At present, small and medium-sized enterprises are facing some problems in international logistics transportation as asymmetric logistics information, high logistics cost, uncertainty of logistics efficiency and so on, especially under the influence of the current international epidemic, which makes the logistics turnover of small and medium-sized enterprises even more difficult. A transparent, fast and open fourth-party logistics platform for updating logistics information has been in dire need.

It is known that "ITL Clouding Terminal", intelligent logistics hub platform for international multi-modal transportation under the guidance of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) built by Xi'an International Inland Port Multimodal Transportation Co., Ltd. (ITL Group) is dedicated to meeting the various international logistics needs of small and medium-sized enterprises. Through highways, railways, sea, air and other transportation modes, multi-segment multi-modal transportation, new online digital platform, the use of the Internet of Things, big data and other advanced technologies, it aims to providing global logistics protocols for small and medium-sized enterprises to ensure online, visual and accurate high-quality services.

ITL Clouding Terminal helps connect the world. As such, each customer only needs to log into the "ITL Clouding Terminal", they can search a series of international multi-modal transport protocols anytime and anywhere, and complete route selection, cost inquiry, data upload, online order loading and unloading, waybill tracking, and so on.

Through the synthesising online resources and innovative mode, "ITL Clouding Terminal" has made China Railway Express (Xi'an) Collaboration Center more attractive and more competitive in an all-around way in terms of introducing new resources and going global respectively as part of its effort to put the words of President Xijinping into action that to build international trade channel with high efficiency, low cost and excellent service and to build a domestic transportation cycle as the main body.

ITL will make its share of contribution to the new transportation layout combining domestic and international transportation systems as the enhancing forces of each other.

On January 21, Wang Jie, a member of the party committee of Luoyu Town, Zhouzhi County, and his entourage came to the park and presented the banner with the words" Your Assistance to Fuxingzhai Warms Our Heart" to Xi'an International Inland Port Multimodal Transportation Co., Ltd. (ITL Group) to thank ITL for its great assistance to Luoyu Town in the work of "100 Enterprises Links 100 Villages."

Luoyu Town is located in the junction area of mountains and plains at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains, with farming, forestry and animal husbandry as its main industries, about 93 kilometers away from Xi'an International Trade & Logistics Park. It is the assistance subject to ITL Group which has offered paring assistance for this town to carry out the campaign of "100 Enterprises Links 100 Villages to Build A Beautiful New Countryside Together". From 2018 to 2020, ITL has invested more than RMB 1.5 million to assist Hongqi Village, Luoyu Village and Fuxingzhai Village in infrastructure construction. At the same time, ITL has made active efforts to work with its pairing village, guiding the people there to make use of their unique breeding location advantages, ecological advantages, and industrial advantages in a comprehensive manner, and make greater efforts develop the green aquaculture industry, and ITL subsidiaries will purchase the relevant agricultural products. Thus, the industrial assistance model of "Enterprises + Cooperatives + Farmers" has taken shape.

Over the past three years (2018-2020), ITL has always seen offering assistance as one of its tasks. Putting the aspiration and needs of the villagers as its priority, and doing everything possible to promote the infrastructure construction of the village and strengthen the collective economic development of the village, ITL has played an important role in synthesizing solutions and making concrete actions to advance the added value of poverty alleviation agricultural products and activating villagers. In 2018, ITL invested RMB 400,000 to cover the drainage ditch of Hongqi village. With the completion of the project, Hongqi Village took on a whole new look. And in 2019, ITL invested more than RMB 500,000 to help Zhouzhiluoyu Village to build Guluoguo State Stele Square. In 2020, ITL invested more than RMB 500,000 to help Fuxingzhai village with infrastructure construction as part of its effort of completing "Project to Beauty"...

The two sides also held discussions on poverty alleviation. After the meeting, Wang Jie, member of the party committee of Luoyu Town, Zhouzhi County, and his entourage inspected the key projects of ITL.

Although the pairing assistance work of the two sides has been completed, the friendship between ITL and Luoyu Town of Zhouzhi County lasts forever. Looking forward, ITL will, as always, care about and support the development of Luoyu Town of Zhouzhi County, never forget its original ambition, bear in mind its mission, give full play to its resources as a state-owned enterprises. It will continue to consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation with "heart, effort, and friendship" to write another new chapters in eliminating poverty in impoverished areas with the development of its own as a state-owned enterprise.