A railway container distribution center in the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, which went into trial operation in July of last year, has by now handled more than 11,000 containers, local authorities report, noting that it is one of China’s 18 major container distribution centers.

And it is becoming a major hub for the China-Russia Railway Logistics Channel and is expected to help develop the Heilongjiang Land and Maritime Silk Road Economic Belt, which is a part of the country’s Belt and Road initiative that President Xi Jinping proposed in 2013.
Crane moving containers at the railway distribution center, in Harbin, Heilongjiang, on Feb 24. [Photo/my399.com]

It has about 1,000 containers in its 680,000-square-meter storage area and, according to Zhang Zhuo, Party chief of the distribution center, ”It can accommodate 2,560 containers in all”then says that the stored goods range from engineering machinery to daily necessities and are mainly shipped to Wuchang, Shuangcheng, Qitaihe, and Manzhouli, in Heilongjiang, as well as cities in Russia and South Korea.

The local customs and inspection and quarantine department serves the center and will help with turning it into an international container logistics distribution center for the Northeast, according to Liang Chuan, deputy head of the center, who adds that it will also link Harbin with Europe and Asia and promote trade with them.