Successors of camel caravans reinventing open economy
As day breaks at the railway port in Erenhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, orange gantry cranes stretch their steel arms into the morning light, lifting containers marked "China-Europe Railway Express" onto waiting trains. A whistle breaks the silence at the border. Loaded with new energy vehicles and smart appliances, the train slowly rolls out of China, beginning its journey toward the heart of Europe, thousands of kilometers away.
Several hundred kilometers to the northeast, at Manzhouli Port, a returning train carrying Russian flaxseed and iron ore has just completed its transshipment and is preparing to head toward processing parks in China's coastal regions.
Altogether, 8,612 China-Europe freight trains crossed Inner Mongolia's borders in 2025, up 14.3 percent year-on-year and accounting for 47.5 percent of the national total. Freight handled by the region's land ports reached 132 million metric tons, ranking first in China for the third consecutive year.
These figures point not only to the growing momentum of Inner Mongolia's open economy, but also reveal how a border region can become deeply integrated into China's broader modernization drive. In the past one could hear camel bells chiming along the ancient Grassland Silk Road. Those have now been replaced by train whistles. Inner Mongolia is using these "steel camel caravans" and digital ports to evolve from being at the geographical periphery to becoming the frontier of opening-up.
From transit corridors to local economic growth
Traditionally, the port economy is built around transit: goods pass through, while most of the profits flow elsewhere. Inner Mongolia's experience shows that high-quality development requires more than just moving cargo. Logistical advantages must be converted into industrial strength, and a transit economy must become an economy in which trade, processing and employment take root locally.
Manzhouli and Erenhot are the main hubs on the eastern and central routes of the China-Europe Railway Express. Together, they handle the majority of all such trains passing through Inner Mongolia.
Erenhot covers 4,015.1 square kilometers and has a permanent population of 70,900. It is China's largest land port open to Mongolia. Meanwhile, Manzhouli is China's largest land port city, handling more than 60 percent of land-based trade between China and Russia.
The two ports serve distinct but complementary roles. Erenhot is a central hub in the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, connecting China with Mongolia, central Russia and European markets. Its exports mainly include new energy products and machinery, while its imports are dominated by mineral resources and agricultural products.
Manzhouli serves as the main eastern gateway, linking China with Russia's Far East and Europe. It leads the country in the number of returning freight trains and has particular strengths in importing grain, timber and other bulk commodities.
Erenhot's transformation is especially striking. Since the first China-Europe freight train passed through the port in 2013, it has handled more than 22,000 trains. Its 75 routes now connect over 70 transport hubs in more than 10 countries. The cargo has also changed. Traditional goods such as metals, chemicals, clothing and footwear are increasingly being replaced by higher-value products, including NEVs and electronic goods. In 2025, altogether, 3,986 China-Europe freight trains had passed through Erenhot, carrying more than 5 million tons of goods, up 22.7 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, Manzhouli has consolidated its position as the leading hub on the eastern corridor. In 2025, it handled 4,867 China-Europe freight trains, an increase of 11.2 percent. Of these, 2,977 were returning trains, up 21 percent and the highest number in China. On average, 13.3 freight trains crossed the port daily.
The China-Russia New Land Grain Corridor has opened additional overland routes, helping meet the demand for grain, oil-processing and livestock industries. More significantly, in 2025, over 50 percent of Inner Mongolia's imported goods were processed within the region, a historic breakthrough that marks a shift from earning income through transit to creating value through industry.
Border trade is also bringing the benefits of opening-up directly to local residents.
At the China-Russia mutual trade zone in Manzhouli, shelves are filled with Russian chocolate, honey and flaxseed oil, attracting a steady flow of traders and tourists. Chen Chunlan, a local resident, opens the Manhutong app on her phone and completes her daily trade declaration in just a few minutes. Soon after, 80 yuan ($11.84) gets credited to her account. Her cooperative organizes 50 border residents to participate in mutual trade. During the peak season, each member can earn more than 1,000 yuan a month in additional income.
Many others have benefited in the same way. In 2025, trade in the Manzhouli mutual trade zone exceeded 400 million yuan. Local residents' participation was deep, totaling 55,000 instances, and generating about 3.5 million yuan in additional income.
In Erenhot, border residents' mutual trade grew from just over 300 million yuan in 2023 to 800 million yuan in 2025. The number of local processing companies increased from eight or nine to 25, creating an increasingly clear chain linking transport, trade and industry.
At Manzhouli Xinfeng Grain and Oil Industry Co Ltd, Russian flaxseed imported through the mutual trade zone is pressed and refined before being sold across China as edible oil. The company's raw-material costs are nearly 10 percent lower than under conventional trade arrangements, while its operations have created jobs for more than 200 local residents.
From isolated ports to region-wide coordination
Opening-up along the border ultimately depends on regional coordination. A single port can generate only limited economic influence. To turn scattered border advantages into broader regional growth, ports must be connected with inland cities, industrial parks and processing bases.
Inner Mongolia has developed a network of ports. In 2025, Arxan Port passed national inspection and began operating year-round, becoming the region's fourth permanently open international land port. When Wuliji Port officially opened in 2025, it raised the total number of open ports in Inner Mongolia to 20.
Construction has also begun on the Ganqmod-Gashuunsukhait cross-border railway, the second new railway link between China and Mongolia in 70 years.
The region's 12 highway ports now have 53 inbound and 36 outbound freight lanes. Together, Inner Mongolia's highway ports can handle 20 million passenger crossings and 150 million tons of cargo annually.
This transport network has not only improved the region's international connectivity, it has also strengthened Inner Mongolia's role as a transport hub linking Northeast, North and Northwest China.
Ports and industrial parks are also establishing closer links. Warehousing and transshipment parks for five major categories of bulk imports — including coal, iron ore, copper concentrate, oil and gas — have been established. Eight major processing industries, including coal chemicals, grain and oil processing, and fluorite beneficiation — which is the treatment of raw material to improve physical or chemical properties, especially in preparation for smelting — are continuing to expand.
At the Hohhot Economic and Technological Development Zone, wind turbine assembly lines operated by the New Envision Group are working to complete orders for France and Brazil. In 2025, the group's two factories produced goods worth more than 5 billion yuan.
It indicates that by connecting the logistics strengths of border ports with the industrial foundations of inland areas, a transit point can become a center of industrial concentration.
In 2025, Inner Mongolia's trade exceeded 220 billion yuan, while its trading network expanded to 201 countries and regions. The gains from opening-up are spreading across the region.
Manpower-intensive checks to smart customs clearance
A port's competitiveness ultimately depends on how efficiently goods and people can cross the border. The fourth plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee called for steadily expanding institutional opening-up, promoting innovation in trade and further improving customs-clearance facilitation. Inner Mongolia is responding by using smart-port development to shift from conventional border management toward digital governance.
The region has achieved three national firsts: the first use of unmanned intelligent cross-border transport, the first application of an intelligent system for verifying vehicles and drivers, and the first digital one-stop fast-clearance channel.
China's first trial of cross-border transport using 5G-enabled unmanned heavy trucks was carried out at Ceke Port. The country's first fast border-inspection clearance system was introduced at Ganqmod Port.
At Manzhouli railway port, a panoramic smart-sensing network has reduced the time needed to collect information from an entire freight train from an average of 20 minutes to less than one minute.
Automated guided vehicles have operated steadily for two years at Ganqmod and Ceke ports, establishing a new model for intelligent cross-border transport. The smart-port practices of Manzhouli and Ganqmod were included among China's first 15 national model cases. Inner Mongolia was the only provincial-level region from which two model cases were selected.
Customs-clearance services have also become more flexible. Erenhot customs has introduced single-window processing and round-the-clock appointment-based clearance. A coordination mechanism involving customs authorities, railway operators and companies ensures that freight trains are inspected and released as soon as they arrive.
Manzhouli highway port has introduced six new clearance models, including the use of a single declaration for multiple vehicles, online mobile declarations and virtual license plates.
At all 12 highway ports, information collected by customs, border inspection and other regulatory departments is now integrated. With single-stop inspection of goods, customs clearance is entering the era of seconds rather than hours.
Between 2021 and 2025, the autonomous region's government allocated 3.75 billion yuan in special funding for port construction, providing strong institutional and financial support for the digital transition.
Challenges ahead
Despite this progress, challenges remain. The benefits generated by transit may begin to shrink. As the number of China-Europe freight trains approaches saturation, a model that depends mainly on transit fees will face declining marginal returns.
Industrial support in inland areas also remains insufficient. Some border ports still lack complete processing and manufacturing chains, limiting the development of a more deeply rooted local economy.
There is a need for improved coordination among ports. The functions and industrial roles of Manzhouli, Erenhot and Ganqmod are yet to be fully differentiated and aligned. Geopolitical uncertainty also poses potential risks to the stability of cross-border transport.
Inner Mongolia should therefore concentrate on four areas.
First, it should deepen the integration of freight trains and industry. The China-Europe Railway Express can serve as a link for developing export-oriented clusters in NEVs, electronics and equipment manufacturing around major ports. Logistics corridors should gradually become industry and supply-chain corridors.
Second, the region should strengthen cooperation and specialization among its ports through a system of comprehensive hubs, key specialized ports and ordinary ports.
Manzhouli, serving China-Russia trade, should lead the eastern port cluster. It can expand international trade, commercial services, and cross-border tourism, while developing into a comprehensive hub serving Russia and Northeast Asia.
Erenhot, serving China-Mongolia-Russia trade, should anchor the central port cluster. It should focus on international logistics, processing, manufacturing and cross-border e-commerce, becoming a core hub in the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor.
Ganqmod, a major China-Mongolia energy port in the west, should concentrate on imports of coal, copper concentrate and other bulk commodities. It can become a national-level processing base for imported energy and mineral resources.
Together, these ports can form a network with distinct roles and complementary strengths.
Third, Inner Mongolia should raise the level of digital governance. It should accelerate the use of blockchain, artificial intelligence and other technologies in cross-border trade, allowing smart ports to evolve into digital trade hubs.
Fourth, it should improve its risk-control system. An early-warning mechanism for risks in international logistics and supply chains would enhance the resilience of transport corridors and help ensure safe and stable cross-border flows in a complex international environment.
Turning location into lasting advantage
From transit corridors to locally rooted industries, from isolated border ports to region-wide coordination, and from manpower-intensive inspections to smart customs clearance, Inner Mongolia's evolving model of China-Europe freight trains, border ports and connected cities offers a practical path for border regions seeking to participate more fully in national modernization.
Its central lesson is that geographical advantages do not automatically become competitive advantages. Location must be combined with institutional innovation, technological empowerment and industrial development.
Nor can opening-up be measured by trade volumes alone. Only when it advances together with regional coordination and high-quality development can quantitative expansion produce a genuine improvement in economic quality.
The camel caravans of the ancient grassland routes have disappeared, but their modern successors are already on the move.
The author is deputy director at the Institute of Marxism of Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences.
The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.
If you have a specific expertise, or would like to share your thought about our stories, then send us your writings at opinion@chinadaily.com.cn, and comment@chinadaily.com.cn.
