Canarian Weekly
27-02-2015, 12:00
THE most incredible journey by train – the 16,156-mile round trip from China to Spain and back – has smashed all records.
The Yixin’ou cargo line is the world’s longest railway track and this was the longest journey, passing through China, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France and Spain, and taking four months.
The train arrived in Madrid laden with cheap goods, and returned to China with expensive olive oil.
The 82-container cargo train began its journey in November in the eastern Chinese city of Yiwu, laden with Christmas trinkets and decorations, stationery and craft products.
It arrived in Madrid on 14th December, in time for the thousands of small shops and Christmas markets to stock up on the cheap Chinese goods.
Before the Yixin’ou line was opened, goods traded between Europe and China depended on inefficient sea or air transport, which meant higher prices in Europe.
Li Huihuan, manager of Yiwu CF International Logistics which operates the train, said: “The cargo train will boost economic exchange between Yiwu, the world’s largest small commodity market, and Madrid, Europe’s largest, small-commodity market.”
The train returned to Yiwu last weekend, carrying olive oil and other Spanish-made goods which are becoming popular in an increasingly-affluent China.
The line is 450 miles longer than the previous record-holder, the Trans-Siberian Railway, which connects Vladivostok in the east of Russia, to Moscow.
State media in Russia greeted the opening of the Yixin’ou by pointing out that containers on the new line must be changed three times during the journey from China to Spain, because tracks in the seven countries are of different gauges.
Even so, the line’s supporters hope it will boost trade between the EU and China, which already stands at more than 1bn euros a day.
Traders at both ends of the new track point out that the train provides a vastly-faster service than seaborne goods, and is substantially cheaper than air cargo.
Yiwu, a city of 1.2 million, is a booming example of modern China. The city’s small-commodities market is growing at a rapid rate – and combined imports and exports in 2014 were valued at $23.7bn, a 28.6% increase on the previous 12 months.
According to the Chinese state-run news agency, Xinhua, 60% of the world’s festive trinkets are originally bought and sold in Yiwu’s annual Christmas market.
While traders in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor and elsewhere will welcome the opening of the Yixin’ou railway, which should lower the prices they pay for nativity scenes and Christmas lights, Yiwu is also famous for being the centre of the world’s illegal counterfeit industry.
Eamonn Fingleton wrote in his book about China’s rapid economic growth: “Yiwu functions as a sort of ‘Wall Street’ for the counterfeiting industry, providing a vast market-place where 100,000 counterfeit products are openly traded, and 2,000 metric tonnes of fakes change hands daily.”
More... (http://www.canarianweekly.com/nipping-out-months/)
The Yixin’ou cargo line is the world’s longest railway track and this was the longest journey, passing through China, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France and Spain, and taking four months.
The train arrived in Madrid laden with cheap goods, and returned to China with expensive olive oil.
The 82-container cargo train began its journey in November in the eastern Chinese city of Yiwu, laden with Christmas trinkets and decorations, stationery and craft products.
It arrived in Madrid on 14th December, in time for the thousands of small shops and Christmas markets to stock up on the cheap Chinese goods.
Before the Yixin’ou line was opened, goods traded between Europe and China depended on inefficient sea or air transport, which meant higher prices in Europe.
Li Huihuan, manager of Yiwu CF International Logistics which operates the train, said: “The cargo train will boost economic exchange between Yiwu, the world’s largest small commodity market, and Madrid, Europe’s largest, small-commodity market.”
The train returned to Yiwu last weekend, carrying olive oil and other Spanish-made goods which are becoming popular in an increasingly-affluent China.
The line is 450 miles longer than the previous record-holder, the Trans-Siberian Railway, which connects Vladivostok in the east of Russia, to Moscow.
State media in Russia greeted the opening of the Yixin’ou by pointing out that containers on the new line must be changed three times during the journey from China to Spain, because tracks in the seven countries are of different gauges.
Even so, the line’s supporters hope it will boost trade between the EU and China, which already stands at more than 1bn euros a day.
Traders at both ends of the new track point out that the train provides a vastly-faster service than seaborne goods, and is substantially cheaper than air cargo.
Yiwu, a city of 1.2 million, is a booming example of modern China. The city’s small-commodities market is growing at a rapid rate – and combined imports and exports in 2014 were valued at $23.7bn, a 28.6% increase on the previous 12 months.
According to the Chinese state-run news agency, Xinhua, 60% of the world’s festive trinkets are originally bought and sold in Yiwu’s annual Christmas market.
While traders in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor and elsewhere will welcome the opening of the Yixin’ou railway, which should lower the prices they pay for nativity scenes and Christmas lights, Yiwu is also famous for being the centre of the world’s illegal counterfeit industry.
Eamonn Fingleton wrote in his book about China’s rapid economic growth: “Yiwu functions as a sort of ‘Wall Street’ for the counterfeiting industry, providing a vast market-place where 100,000 counterfeit products are openly traded, and 2,000 metric tonnes of fakes change hands daily.”
More... (http://www.canarianweekly.com/nipping-out-months/)