China-Europe freight trains via the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in Qingdao, Shandong province, hit record highs this year, as the hub expanded its multimodal links and overseas consolidation centers to cut logistics costs and deepen trade with Belt and Road markets.

At SCODA's multimodal transport center, rail lines stretch into the distance as gantry cranes load containers bound for overseas markets, carrying "Made in China" and "Made in Qingdao" goods. Imports including Kazakh wheat flour and other "SCO specialties" are also consolidated there for distribution across China.

China-Europe freight services maintained strong momentum in SCODA this year. In the first 10 months, 1,042 trains operated through the zone, up 13.8 percent year-on-year, surpassing last year's full-year total and setting a record.

The hub has launched 32 domestic and international routes to 54 cities in 23 countries across the SCO and Belt and Road network, building corridors that link Japan and South Korea in the east, Eurasia in the west, Mongolia and Russia in the north, and ASEAN in the south. Cumulative China-Europe trips have exceeded 5,000. The zone runs regular dedicated services for home appliances, tires, finished vehicles and grain, as well as tailor-made supply-chain trains for companies such as Haier, Hisense and Chery.

These services have supported more than 7,000 exporters and helped align the trains with Shandong's industrial strengths, bolstering global supply chains.

Zang Yuanqi, an official with the zone's administrative committee, said the zone has built an international logistics corridor connecting eastward to Japan, South Korea and the Asia-Pacific, westward to Central Asia and Europe, southward to ASEAN and South Asia, and northward to Mongolia and Russia.

He added that the hub will keep strengthening the Qingdao node of the national China-Europe (Jinan-Qingdao) assembly center by improving cargo aggregation, expanding overseas consolidation centers and warehouses, and accelerating new models such as "trains +cross-border e-commerce" and "trains + cold chain".

Last month, a cross-border freight train arrived from Kazakhstan carrying 86 containers of goods worth about 25 million yuan ($3.5 million). The shipment entered China via Alashankou Port, was transshipped at the multimodal center, and then moved through Qingdao Port to overseas destinations. The end-to-end journey took 20 days, according to the zone.

To build a more efficient cross-border logistics and trade system, the zone has been adding nodes at home and abroad, with overseas consolidation centers in Belgrade, Almaty, Moscow and Vientiane, to deepen cooperation in key regions. Since opening this year, the Moscow center has linked Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, the Russian Far East and Belarus' China-Belarus Industrial Park, establishing a round-trip service that moves export components to Haier's Russia plant and brings back petroleum coke, helping firms trim overseas logistics and warehousing costs.

Construction of the Qingdao hub of the national China-Europe (Jinan-Qingdao) assembly center is also creating opportunities. In January, State regulators approved 14 national assembly centers, including the Jinan-Qingdao project.

The Qingdao hub is expected to have six platforms: a train assembly and operations center, a cross-border e-commerce center, a supply-chain finance center, a bulk commodity futures delivery center, an imported grain supervision center and an international cold-chain center, aiming to form an integrated "logistics + trade + finance" cluster.

Zang framed the hub's growth as part of China's broader efforts to deepen regional cooperation under the SCO. The government voiced support for establishing the demonstration zone in Qingdao in 2018, and local authorities say they are focused on expanding the quantity and improving the quality of trade to underpin cooperation and opening-up.

Executives say faster rail services are drawing exporters into the zone. Lu Junlin, an entrepreneur who relocated his cross-border e-commerce business to SCODA in 2021, said rail transit times to Russia fell to about 15 days from 55-60 days previously, while streamlined procedures at the cross-border e-commerce supervision center cut more than 50 declaration items.