Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) – Stepping into Qinzhou Port Area in Guangxi, a bustling scene unfolds. Gantry cranes on the docks extend their massive arms, precisely lifting containers; container trucks shuttle orderly between terminals; at the adjacent China Railway Intermodal Qinzhou Central Station, shunting personnel from Qinzhou Port East Station guide locomotives in coupling operations. After the train is assembled, the fully loaded Western Land-Sea New Corridor rail-sea intermodal freight train sounds its horn and sets off, speeding towards the distance.
As a landmark project in the construction of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor's rail-sea intermodal transport, the China Railway Intermodal Qinzhou Central Station and the Beibu Gulf Port Qinzhou Automated Container Terminal are seamlessly connected. Leveraging its "zero-distance" connection with the port, the China Railway Intermodal Qinzhou Central Station will have operated a total of 9,015 rail-sea intermodal freight trains by 2025, with its network covering 18 provinces, 74 cities, and 160 stations across China. The station has innovatively launched distinctive services such as "railway cage cars + roll-on/roll-off ships," and successfully launched cross-border freight trains to Almaty, building a convenient bridge for domestic and international trade.
"We are a key hub for the freight trains; our core function is to make container transshipment more efficient," said Li Jinjin, head of the operations department of the China Railway Intermodal Qinzhou Central Station. He explained that the station has achieved seamless connection between ships and railways by innovatively implementing a "direct loading and unloading" model, directly reducing at least one transshipment and loading/unloading step for customers, lowering logistics costs by 10 yuan per ton.
The China Railway Intermodal Qinzhou Central Station consists of the Qinzhou Port East Station operating area and the port operating area, with the two operating areas connecting to Qinzhou Port East Station via four and two railway freight lines, respectively.
"Previously, we handled less than 10 cars a day; now we handle over 1,000," said Zhao Guihu, stationmaster of Qinzhou Port East Station. As the first railway station on the Western Land-Sea New Corridor's rail-sea intermodal transport network, Qinzhou Port East Station has transformed from a small seaside freight station into an international hub after ten years of development. Today, it handles up to 35 rail-sea intermodal trains daily, with a peak daily throughput of 1,405 cars. Behind this high efficiency is the continuous improvement of the corridor's capacity.
Looking back at the development of Qinzhou Port East Station, it has undergone a remarkable transformation and leapfrog growth. Officially opened in 2015, Qinzhou Port East Station was initially just a supporting freight station for the Qinzhou Bonded Port Area, with limited scale and influence, primarily undertaking basic freight support tasks. With the accelerated construction of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor, this small seaside station has been upgraded from a fourth-class station to a first-class station, becoming a key node in rail-sea intermodal transport, connecting international land-sea trade, and achieving a qualitative leap and a breakthrough in cargo volume.
According to official statistics, in 2025, Qinzhou Port East Station transported nearly 15 million tons of cargo, more than 110 times the initial volume at the time of its opening. This contributed to the annual transport of 1.425 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of cargo by the Western Land-Sea New Corridor freight trains, a year-on-year increase of 47.6%.
Zhao Guihu stated that the Nanning Railway Bureau of China Railway has continuously optimized its operational services, promoted the "negative list" management model for containers, and expanded the range of freight products transported by the trains to over 11,000, essentially achieving full coverage of suitable container cargo. In the future, Qinzhou Port East Station will further enhance its transport capacity and operational efficiency, deepen the integrated operation model of railway, port, and customs, strengthen its organic connection and coordination with the Pinglu Canal, and build an efficient, convenient, green, and intelligent international cargo hub.
The transformation of Qinzhou Port East Station is a vivid testament to the high-quality development of Qinzhou's maritime economy. It is understood that since the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan, Qinzhou has continuously improved its transportation infrastructure, adding 20 berths of 10,000 tons or more, bringing the total to 55. A number of major port and shipping facilities have been completed, including a 300,000-ton oil terminal and waterway, and an automated container terminal. The cargo throughput of Qinzhou Port has exceeded 200 million tons, with an average annual growth of 10.3%, and the container throughput has exceeded 7 million TEUs, with an average annual growth of 13.9%.
With thriving transportation, industries thrive. The continuously enhanced competitiveness of the transportation network has revitalized the region's open development, attracting more and more enterprises to settle in Qinzhou and expand into domestic and international markets. Today, Qinzhou has attracted a number of petrochemical production enterprises, including PetroChina and Shanghai Huayi, successfully building a diversified industrial system encompassing oil, coal, gas, and salt. New energy materials and equipment manufacturing industries are rapidly emerging, constructing a complete cross-border industrial chain from laterite nickel ore to low-grade nickel matte to high-grade nickel matte to nickel sulfate to high-grade nickel ternary precursors. A complete industrial chain for offshore wind power equipment has also been established. The China-ASEAN bird's nest cross-border industrial chain has also taken shape.
Data from Qinzhou Port Customs shows that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the total import and export volume through Qinzhou Port exceeded 240 billion yuan. In the first quarter of this year, the total import and export value of Qinzhou Port reached 70.48 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 50.5%. (End)
