ZHENGZHOU: With a sharp blast of a whistle, a China-Europe freight train slowly pulled out of Putian railway station in Zhengzhou, capital of Central China’s Henan province, in late March, its carriages packed with auto parts and electronics bound for Hamburg, Germany.
Under the glow of floodlights, cranes moved in rhythm and workers signalled across the yard, as containers were hoisted and secured in a tightly choreographed operation.
Nearby, another set of containers had just arrived, carrying milk and juice from Germany and Poland.
Forklifts weaved through the unloading zone as the goods were quickly sorted and dispatched to cities across China, offering a snapshot of increasingly seamless two-way trade flows.
In another part of the city, Du Qiang, an inspection officer from Zhengzhou Customs’ airport branch, was checking a shipment of electronic components that had just arrived from Europe.
The entire batch will be transported by trucks to an auto factory in Hefei in East China’s Anhui province. Under the “air-land intermodal transport” model, the time from arrival in Zhengzhou to delivery at the next destination can be kept within 10 hours, said Du.
Despite having no coastline or border crossing, Henan, supported by favourable policies brought by the development of China (Henan) Pilot Free Trade Zone, is expanding the province’s role in building a modern logistics hub with global reach by leveraging the dual engines of being an air cargo hub and China-Europe freight train services.
Zhang Jianping, deputy-director of the academic committee at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said that through the coordinated development of the “Air Silk Road” that connects economies participating in the Belt and Road Initiative and the overland rail network, Henan is accelerating the flow of goods between China’s inland provinces and overseas markets.
That view is in line with the latest data, as air cargo routes centred on Zhengzhou have expanded rapidly since China began supporting the development of a bidirectional “Air Silk Road” between Zhengzhou and Luxembourg in 2017, linking 18 destinations in Europe, 23 in Asia and nine in the Americas as of the end of 2025, said Zhengzhou Customs.
Total cargo and mail throughput at Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport reached 1.03 million tonnes in 2025, up 25.25% year-on-year (y-o-y), placing it among the world’s million-tonne cargo hubs.
Within the total, international cargo volumes amounted to 661,500 tonnes, a surge of 40.25% on a yearly basis. In 2025, China-Europe freight train services from Zhengzhou operated 3,417 trips, up 36.7% y-o-y, according to customs statistics.
The cargo mix has expanded from a single category to 53 major categories, including automobiles and parts, furniture, chemical products and machinery, with the “new trio” – electric vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products – now also being shipped to foreign markets via the service. — China Daily/ANN
