New highway freight service links China, Kazakhstan

CHONGQING -- Two trucks carrying pipeline materials departed from Chongqing Municipality for Kazakhstan on Tuesday, marking the launch of the eighth highway-based cross-border freight line by the city in Southwest China.

Traveling 5,900 km, the trucks are scheduled to pass through the Alataw Pass, a major land port in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and arrive at their destination in around 12 days.

The new line will further boost trade between west China and Central Asia, as more goods are expected to be transported to Central Asian countries through the city, said Liu Gongfeng, general manager of Chongqing Highway Logistics Base.

Chongqing launched the cross-border highway freight service in 2016. So far, more than 4,500 trucks have transported goods worth around 2.67 billion yuan (about $407 million) to countries including Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand and Uzbekistan.

Chongqing, an inland city on the fast track of China's new round of opening up, saw its foreign trade increase by 11.4 percent year-on-year to nearly 461.4 billion yuan in the first three quarters of this year, customs data showed.