China, for the first time, exported completely built vehicles to Western Europe, on Tuesday. 123
Volvo cars
were put in a train at Daqing - in the country's
Heilongjiang Province
, and will reach Belgium in 18 days.
The journey from Daqing to
Zeebrugge Port
will see the train covering 9,832 kilometers through Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. Trade through train - using the
Silk Road route - with West Europe has seen a spurt in recent years. In fact, the
Yiwu-Madrid
railway line has emerged as a major train trade route and expands over 10,000 kilometers through 12 Chinese and nine European cities.
UK also joined the route late last year with a train arriving in London - 15th European city added to the route - carrying a variety of goods. The return train to Yiwu was reportedly carrying whiskey, vitamins, soft drinks and other goods. This is a distance of 12,070 kilometers - one way.
While the politico-economic implications for countries are plenty, there is much at stake for companies in general, and auto companies in particular. For Swedish company Volvo, for instance, China is the biggest market by far.
The country has also been made a global manufacturing hub by the company. And it is just one of a long list of global automotive companies who would now look to make the most of packing their cars on cargo trains and exporting them to markets elsewhere.