The first China-Europe freight train bound for Tilburg from Nanjing, capital city of east China’s Jiangsu Province, arrives in Tilburg, the Netherlands, June 4, 2021. It is the start of a new regular line between the countries.

This train departed from Yaohuamen Station of Nanjing Freight Center on May 10th and exited the Alashankou port in Xinjiang. It passed through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, and Germany, with a distance of 11,500 kilometers. The train is fully loaded with 100 standard containers, and the cargo weighs 455 tons, with a total value of nearly 7 million US dollars. The main types of goods include anti-epidemic materials, electronic products, auto parts, daily necessities, and medical equipment.

Nanjing lies in the Chinese province of Jiangsu. The region was one of the first to operate block trains on the New Silk Road. Jiangsu has tight bonds with the North Brabant region in the Netherlands, but until now freight traffic mostly occurs via sea. This is the first rail freight service from the province to the Netherlands.

GVT has been operating the direct line to and from Chengdu since 2016. In Chengdu, it has also established the Holland Pavilion, an eastwards gateway where Dutch businesses can present their products to the Chinese market. In Tilburg, the line is extends to the port of Rotterdam.

The Dutch province of North-Brabant and the Chinese province of Jiangsu are sister provinces. They collaborate in the fields of technology innovation, biomedicine and intelligent logistics. According to the customs data in 2020, the total import and export between China and the Netherlands was 91.7 billion USD, of which Jiangsu contributed approximately 20 per cent.