(CFP Photo)

The number of China-Europe freight train trips from the Yangtze River Delta, one of the major engines of China's economy, reached 1,135 in the first five months of the year, up 8.8% year on year.

Over 110,600 TEUs were transported by the trains in the period, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%. May proved to be the busiest month this year with 235 train trips carrying 23,000 TEUs, up 14.1% and 12.9% year on year respectively.

As COVID-19 outbreaks hit hard maritime shipping and air cargo capacity, China Railway Shanghai Bureau Group Co Ltd has strengthened efforts to support the smooth freight train services.

Zhu Weidong, manager of Ningbo Shipping Agency of Sinotrans Zhejiang, said the company has handled 1,600 TEUs transported through the freight train route linking the city of Jinhua in Zhejiang Province to Dourges in France since January 15 last year.

In the delta region, freights from Yiwu in Zhejiang Province to European countries are mainly small commodities while exports from Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province to Hamburg and Poland are dominated by electronic products and electrical appliances. The trains mainly transport white goods and machinery products from Hefei in Anhui Province to Hamburg.