Ningbo-Zhoushan Port Busy with Sea-Rail Intermodal Shipments During Spring Festival Holiday

　　The Overseas Journey of a "Festive Flavor" Container

　　At 8 p.m. on February 19, with a short whistle, the "Mediterranean Caterina" vessel set sail from the Chuanshan Port area of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port. The red lanterns and gilded "Fu" characters inside the containers on the ship are expected to adorn the doorways of Singaporean homes by the Lantern Festival. We watched the giant ship gradually disappear into the distance, carrying "Made in Zhejiang" products beyond China's borders.

　　Rewinding the clock by a day, on the evening of February 18, colorful lanterns hung high on the streets of Yiwu. We followed a container being transported by a short-haul truck to Zhejiang Double Supply Chain Company. This was the last container dispatched that evening, loaded with "festive flavor" goods, traveling by road and rail to reach Ningbo-Zhoushan Port.

　　The assembly line in the warehouse was still running, with the air filled with the scent of plastic and corrugated paper. "Yes, the Mediterranean Shipping Company's vessel departs tomorrow night," said Chen Ruqing, head of the Yiwu division of Double Supply Chain Company, as she put down the phone. Behind her were stacks of over a dozen shipping orders. This batch of lanterns and decorations weighs 12 tons and is valued at approximately 700,000 yuan. She mentioned that the company had entered its shipping peak around the 20th day of the lunar month, and now they were rushing to meet the Lantern Festival deadline.

　　In the "world's supermarket" during the Year of the Horse, it's not just about selling products but also creativity. "This year's decorations are particularly diverse," said Chen Ruqing, pointing to a corner of the warehouse. "For example, Dunhuang Pegasus ornaments and intangible cultural heritage horse combs are all bestsellers." During the Spring Festival holiday, other overseas orders were also shipped as usual. Baby products, outdoor camping chairs, kitchen and bathroom daily necessities, and other small commodities from Yiwu and surrounding factories were gathered here. Multiple e-commerce orders were consolidated into full containers, embarking on their multimodal transport journey together.

　　The "consolidation warehouse" model excels in speed—no need to wait for a full container, as goods are sealed as soon as they are ready. Shipping companies issue through bills of lading in Yiwu, allowing enterprises to book space and clear customs without leaving the city. "Previously, to ship one container, sales staff had to run back and forth between the railway, port, and shipping company three or four times, filling out five or six documents," said Chen Ruqing. Now, goods entering Yiwu Port are treated as if they have entered Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, providing much peace of mind.

　　At 12:15 a.m. on February 19, the container was driven into the Yiwu West Station freight yard. This is one of the inland departure stations with the densest China-Europe freight train routes in the country and the starting point for sea-rail intermodal foreign trade exports. After the customs declaration was completed by the consolidation warehouse's customs broker, the single-window international trade platform immediately issued a release instruction. When goods are selected for customs inspection, the "inspect first, then load" model is also very convenient. Chen Ruqing noted that in the past, the biggest fear with consolidated shipments was a "single ticket hit," causing the entire vehicle to wait, with small orders having to wait one or two days. Now, efficiency has improved by nearly 30%, and costs have decreased by 10%.

　　In the office of Yiwu Rail-Road Intermodal Company, operator Ma Junwei closely monitored the screen, comparing customs receipts with railway dispatch orders. He processes over 100 such documents in a single night. "In recent years, e-commerce goods have noticeably increased, and the demand for timeliness is getting higher and higher," he said. Before he finished speaking, the dispatch information had already been submitted to the railway system. A few seconds later, the loading instruction reached the gantry crane control room. After the digital and intelligent upgrades, gantry crane operator Fang Tao bid farewell to the cockpit dozens of meters high and now works from a remote control station in the office building. With a gentle push of the joystick, the spreader descended steadily, securely locking onto the container.

　　At 5 a.m., the train departed. On the Yongjin Railway, mountain shadows layered outside the window, and villages along the way were lit with festive lanterns. At exactly 9 a.m., the train arrived punctually at the Chuanshan Port railway station in Ningbo-Zhoushan Port. "The four-hour journey takes about the same time as by road, but a single train can carry 52 containers, greatly enhancing capacity," said locomotive driver Chen Rong. The containers were first sent to the loading and unloading yard, awaiting unified scheduling before being loaded onto the ship. "The punctuality rate of sea-rail intermodal transport is guaranteed, saving at least one day per trip."

　　In the sea-rail dispatch center at the Chuanshan Port railway station, commands were issued one after another. Controller Xu Yunjie opened the system interface, quickly assigning container trucks to incoming trains and locking in yard positions. The second phase of the port area expansion project was recently put into operation, adding four arrival-departure tracks and two loading-unloading tracks. Currently, the station operates an average of 14 pairs of sea-rail intermodal trains daily. At this pace, the container handling volume at the Chuanshan Port railway station is expected to reach 1 million TEUs this year, making it the second million-TEU-level port station in Ningbo-Zhoushan Port.

　　Outside the window, the "Mediterranean Caterina" vessel was quietly waiting. After loading, it would set sail for the Port of Singapore. Container truck drivers transported the containers to the quay crane, where the spreader descended again, locking securely into place with a click. The container was lifted steadily, crossing the ship's side and slowly descending into the hold, nestled tightly among hundreds of other containers.

　　On one end is the world's largest small commodity market, and on the other is the world's largest port. By March 2025, the "Yiwu-Ningbo-Zhoushan Port" container sea-rail intermodal route will have handled a cumulative business volume of over 1 million TEUs, becoming the first domestic sea-rail intermodal route to reach this milestone. By 2025, the total sea-rail intermodal volume of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port will exceed 2 million TEUs for the first time, with steel rails bringing the seaport to the doorstep of inland factories.

　　At this moment, every container boarding the cargo ship represents a fraction of Zhejiang's multi-trillion-yuan export value this year. Behind it are the efforts of every participant in the manufacturing and logistics chain, racing against time and moving tirelessly to build a bridge from Zhejiang's factories to store shelves around the world.