On 27 September, within the framework of the International Logistics Exhibition “Silk Road International Logistics Expo” in Lianyungang, China, a Memorandum on Strategic Cooperation was signed between the Freeport of Riga Authority and the Port of Lianyungang, with the goal to promote the development of multi-modal transport services and solutions in the Eurasian land transport corridor, the company said in its press release.
Within the framework of the meeting, Ziemans certified to the Chinese delegation that the Freeport of Riga could provide port infrastructure which is already compatible with the infrastructure of countries of the One Belt and One Road Initiatives, thus ensuring effective transport connections. Likewise, Ziemanis invited the management of the port and city of Lianyungang to visit Latvia and meet with representatives of port, railway and logistics companies in order to continue the cooperation.
The port of Lianyungang is one of the starting points of the New Silk Road. It is an exemplary port of China, which handles inland and international cargo, providing combined maritime-railway transport services and solutions. The first Chinese-European container train was opened in 1992, when the new transport corridor connected the port of Lianyungang with the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands via Middle Asia. Last year, over 220 million tons of cargo and 4.65 million TEU containers were handled in the port of Lianyungang, making it the 10th largest port in China.
The port of Lianyungang was chosen by Kazakhstan for its investments in China. In 2014, “KTZ-Express”, a subsidiary company of “Kazakhstan Railway”, purchased shares in the multi-modal terminal of the port of Kazakhstan. This year, the authority of the port of Lianyungang, together with China Cosco Shipping Group, purchased 49 percent of shares of the Horgos logistics centre located on the border of China and Kazakhstan, creating an inland connection between the two terminals.