On April 3, the first "China Post” block train bound for Lithuania via Yuxinou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) International Railway departed from Chongqing. The train carries 44 containers with nearly 300 tons of medical supplies and international parcels destined for Europe from Beijing, Guangdong, Chongqing and other places. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China Post has started its mail transportation via the China-Europe freight trains and has transported nearly 100 tons of mail items, which has timely guaranteed the smooth flow of medical supplies and daily necessities, addressed the problem of insufficient capacity caused by the sharp reduction of international flights and the dramatic shrinkage of belly freight capacity for international mail, and thereby kept the international supply chain on track.

China Post Group Co., Ltd., together with Chongqing Municipal Government, held a launching ceremony for the first “China Post” block train at the starting point of Yuxinou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe International Railway. Wu Cunrong, Vice Mayor of Chongqing Municipality, attended the ceremony and announced the departure of the special train.

Wu Cunrong asked Zhou Xinfeng, General Manager of Chongqing Postal Branch, to convey his appreciation to China Post Group Co., Ltd. Wu Cunrong noted that the global supply chain is undergoing profound changes and the prospect of petty trade is very wide. He hoped that China Post should further strengthen its cooperation with the Office of Port Administration, the Customs and Yuxinou Logistics Co., Ltd. in mail transportation via Yuxinou International Railway, take Chongqing as an important hub for outbound and inbound mail items of European route, reduce transit links, improve time-efficiency, further expand the scale and play a more positive role in making Chongqing an inland international logistics hub and a significant port.

With the spread of COVID-19 across the world, many international flights have been suspended, international air routes have sharply reduced, the import and export logistics of the international supply chain having been severely impacted. At the same time, the demands of people from other countries and the overseas compatriots for anti-virus supplies and daily necessities have risen sharply, whereas large amounts of international mail, including materials needed for epidemic prevention, are confronted with a backlog. At this critical moment, China Post, serving as “the national team” of the industry, gives full play to the advantage of its worldwide network to unblock the “main artery” of international logistics, makes full use of China-Europe freight trains to transport mail items in such an emergency period, and provides substantial logistics support for the Belt and Road countries in their battle against the epidemic and resumption of economy and production.

It is understood that in order to kick off the “China Post” block train of Yuxinou International Railway at the fastest speed China Post has established makeshift customs transfer mail routes, formulated new customs transfer processes with the strong support of the General Administration of Customs, and achieved the efficient operation of once-through seal at local Customs and whole-course customs clearance via secure and intelligent customs locks at subsequent transit points. Meanwhile, China Post actively negotiates with Lithuania Post. Both agree that when arriving in Lithuania, the mail items will be directly transferred with the help of Lithuania Post to 36 European countries such as Spain, Denmark Switzerland, France, Cyprus, etc. The efficiency of transit can thereby be greatly elevated. Under the support of the Logistics Office of Chongqing Municipal Government, China Post plans to dispatch seven Chongqing-Lithuania block trains after the first one. Subsequently, they will dispatch one or two block trains every week depending on the mail volumes, carrying around 50 containers each time, all of which will be further dispatched to other European countries via Lithuania, with the transport volume expected to account for 70 per cent of all international mail destined for Europe via China-Europe freight trains from China.

In the recent years, China Post has been initiatively serving and integrating itself into the national development strategies, and conforming to the national strategic process of constantly pushing forward opening-up at a higher level and building an open world economy and a community with a shared future for humanity. China Post has followed the principle of joint construction and shared benefits and contributed to the Belt and Road Initiative, and mail transportation via Yuxinou International Railway is one of the crucial projects and an important starting point. It is reported that China Post has completed its first international mail processing center at the railway port in Chongqing and achieved large-scale operation of mail transportation via Yuxinou International Railway and Yixinou (Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe) International Railway. Up to now, it has sent out more than a total of 10 million pieces of mail items, weighing over 2,000 tons, to 24 European countries via railway transportation of China-Europe freight trains and highway-railway combined transport between China and Russia.

Next, China Post will accelerate the establishment of an independent and controllable international logistics system, and improve the layout of international express and logistics business. Integrating storage, distribution, value-added services and information technology, China Post will offer customers with a whole range of integrated cross boarder e-commerce logistics services including warehousing, packaging and distribution, customs clearance, settlement or purchase of foreign exchange, rebate or payment of taxes, logistic tracking and other services, and build itself into a world-class international express and logistics service provider, thus providing secure and reliable logistic service capacity for Chinese enterprises “going global” and their capital flowing back and facilitating the industries in China to move towards the mid- and high-end of global value chains.