Loaded with international mail and cross-border e-commerce parcels, the Tianshan postal block train for Silk Road e-commerce set off for the first time from the west freight yard of Urumqi, capital city of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to Almaty, Kazakhstan on November 26.

The first block train carries a total of 50 containers, containing household appliances, daily necessities, clothing, bags and suitcases, etc., with a total weight of about 600 tons and a cargo value of about 29.5 million yuan (about 4.64 million US dollars). Through domestic cross-border e-commerce platforms and local e-commerce clients, goods from Yiwu, Shenzhen and other sources are gathered in Urumqi, handed over to Xinjiang Postal Branch, and then transferred to Central Asia, Europe and other places via the block train.

Xinjiang is an important channel for interaction and exchanges between the Belt and Road countries, and plays an important part in China’s opening to the West and all-dimensional opening-up. China Post has the advantage of a network which covers the whole country and reaches the entire world. It has established direct postal service relations with more than 220 countries and regions within the Universal Postal Union, and has set up more than 20 overseas postal warehouses in B&R countries and regions. The starting of the Tianshan postal block train for Silk Road e-commerce is a real practice of Xinjiang Postal Branch to help speed up developing the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt. It also showcases the responsibilities and actions of China Post as a state-owned enterprise to help engage Xinjiang in the new development paradigm with domestic economy and international engagement providing mutual reinforcement, and the former as the mainstay. 

With 6 international postal ports and 23 international postal routes, Xinjiang Postal Branch has established a channel of international mail transportation network to Central Asia and Europe, effectively supporting the mail transportation to the five Central Asian countries and Russia. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the integrated customs clearance mode for international mail, cross-border e-commerce and international express items, it strives to develop parcel, express and logistics business for cross-border e-commerce items under the customs supervision code of 9610, 9710 and 9810. So far it has successfully organized the railway container mail transport from Urumqi to Almaty and Moscow, launched the land transportation channels for international mail and cross-border e-commerce overseas warehouse goods from highway ports like Horgos, Alashankou, Torugart and Baketu, and opened air postal routes from Urumqi to Almaty, Moscow and Brussels. It has made every effort to develop the postal block train project for Silk Road e-commerce, striving to make the block train from Urumqi to Almaty a stable, reliable and cost-effective export channel for sellers on China’s cross-border e-commerce platforms.

It is understood that with the success of the first block train transportation, Xinjiang Postal Branch will strive to operate more than 4 trains per month, with an estimated export trade volume of 210 million yuan (about 33 million US dollars), trying to guarantee the regular operations of block trains from Xinjiang.

In the future, Xinjiang Postal Branch will continue to give play to its role as the main channel for cross-border e-commerce logistics, comprehensively improve its capabilities in cross-border e-commerce goods collection and cross-border logistics, develop modern logistics system, and contribute its effort of the national team of the postal sector to keep employment, foreign trade and growth stable in the autonomous region. Besides, Xinjiang Postal Branch will further engage itself into the construction of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, give full play to the strategic advantages of location and postal resources, serve the government, enterprises and people, promote the development of export-oriented economy, make every effort to provide international postal parcel service and cross-border e-commerce goods consignment service for 65 B&R countries, and facilitate all sectors of society to export anti-epidemic materials and mail daily necessities smoothly.