The train with 100 TEUs of cargos arrives at Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, Zhejiang province on Sept 28. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

The cargo trains transporting goods from Yiwu, the world's largest small commodities market, to Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, became the busiest among China's trains for foreign trade.

As a train loaded with 100 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo arrived at the port on Sept 28, the total container throughput via the link reached 10,000 in a single month. These goods will later be shipped to countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Connecting Yiwu and the world's busiest port in terms of cargo throughput, the sea-railway combined transportation mode was launched in October 2013, as a positive contribution to China's Belt and Road Initiative.

It transformed the traditional transportation of commodities in Yiwu to the port, from completely depending on roads to taking advantage of the railway.

The number of trains running along the route increased to two and sometimes three a day from one at the beginning, which greatly improved the logistics efficiency and facilitated Yiwu's foreign trade.

Over the past few years, the railway link has seen a robust growth in its volume of business with an average annual growth rate of 127.8 percent from 2013 to 2017. From January to September this year, around 58,000 TEUs have been transported, a year-on-year increase of 66.7 percent.

For Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, the sea-railway combined transportation was the main focus of its work in 2018. According to an official report released by the port's administration committee in July, the container throughput by means of the combined transportation surpassed 263,000 TEUs during the first six months of this year, up 44 percent year-on-year, greatly enhancing the link between Ningbo-Zhoushan Port and inland Chinese cities.

A crane transports containers at Chuanshan harbor in Zhejiang's Ningbo-Zhoushan Port on Feb 23, 2018. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]