How China is bypassing cargo chokepoints to speed up Africa trade

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How China is bypassing cargo chokepoints to speed up Africa trade​

• New rail-sea hybrid transport options stretching from western China as far as Europe are speeding up goods movement to Africa
• New routes imply the belt and road plan is working, and are also in line with China’s aim of boosting exports from less-developed western region

A China-Europe Railway Express freight train linking the southeastern port city of Xiamen with Budapest, Hungary. Photo: Xinhua
China is using hybrid logistics links or multimodal rail-sea lines to bypass cargo chokepoints in an effort to speed up trade with Africa, where it is the largest trading partner.
The city of Chengdu in southwestern China opened the Chengdu-Europe-Africa rail-sea transport line this month to move freight to Morocco via the German port of Hamburg, as the North African nation emerges as the centre for tripartite trade.
The train, carrying mostly textiles from Chengdu, will arrive in Hamburg via the China-Europe Railway Express. The goods will then travel by sea to its final destination, Morocco’s Port of Casablanca.

How China is bypassing cargo chokepoints to speed up Africa trade

New rail-sea hybrid transport options stretching from western China as far as Europe are speeding up goods movement to Africa.

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