Booming highway freight service facilitates transport between ASEAN, western China

CHONGQING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The volume of freight transport via the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor cross-border highways soared with a growing number of trucks involved in the first two months of this year.

During this period, a total of 903 truck trips transported goods worth about 683 million yuan (99.2 million U.S. dollars), a surge of 502 and 625 percent year on year, respectively, according to the highway logistics base of Chongqing Municipality in southwest China.

Launched in April 2016, the cross-border highway freight service provides safe and timely delivery of goods, thus further promoting trade between western China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

A truck departing from Chongqing, which crosses the border via the land checkpoint of Mohan in Yunnan Province, takes four days to arrive in Vientiane, Laos, traveling about 2,800 km.

Prior to the cross-border highway freight service, it took about a month for cargo to reach ASEAN countries via water transport.

The foreign trade of Chongqing, an inland city on the fast track of China's new round of opening up, hit a record high of 815.84 billion yuan in 2022, up 2 percent from 2021.