The Sino-Vietnam freight train carrying 477 tonnes of Indonesian coal arrived at China’s Hekou border crossing on October 14, the first time the railway transported goods from Indonesia to China since its operation in 1910.
The coal, loaded in 16 containers, was part of the 27,000 tonnes of Indonesian coal shipped from the coal-rich country to Haiphong port in Vietnam, all of which will be sent to China though the Sino-Vietnam railway, according to China Railway Kunming Bureau, owner of the Chinese section of the intermodal railway.
China bought over 13 million tonnes of coal (39.6% of total coal imports) from its top origin Indonesia in August, according to China Customs, though most of the volume was shipped via sea.
The Sino-Vietnam railway, also known as Kunming-Haiphong railway, connects Kunming in southwestern China’s Yunnan province and Haiphong port in Vietnam, benefiting transnational trades among China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Turkmenistan and other countries.
The Sino-Vietnam Railway has handled a total 435,000 tonnes of goods so far this year, including 183,000 tonnes of outbound goods and 252,000 tonnes of inbound.
Source: SXCoal
http://www.sxcoal.com/site/index/en
