The picture shows that the first international rail-sea combined block train dispatched from Yichang East Railway Station.（Reporter: Gao Wei ; Photographer: Huang Lili ）

　　On September 27th, a freight train packed with 22 chemical product containers, whose value is $300,000, dispatched from Yichang East Railway Station. It will go straight down south from the Jiaoliu Railway to the Qinzhou Port in Guangxi province, and then the goods will be transferred by sea to Pasir Gudang port in Malaysia.

　　This departure marks the opening of the first southward channel, which is started from the central region of China. It also means that Yichang has a second sea outlet except the Shanghai Port on the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. “Made in Yichang” products can enter the international market not only by river-sea combined transportation, but also by the rail-sea combined transportation, which can shorten the entire journey by 10 to 15 days.

　　The quantity of fertilizers exported from Yichang to Southeast Asia, South Asia and Africa is up to 100,000 tons per year. The rail-sea combined transportation has great charm to shippers with high requirements of delivery time and capital return, which provides more logistics options for them.

　　The southward export has the second channel, and so does the import. Fresh and high-quality fruits, grain, wood, jute and other products from Southeast Asia can be transported by sea to Qinzhou Port and then to Yichang by rail. At the same time, the “Yichang-Wuhan-Europe” international block train is in normal operation, also transports “Made in Yichang” products to Central Asia and Europe, and then transports foreign products back to Yichang. The two westward and southward channels will help Yichang become an important import and export trade distribution center in the central region, so as to promote the transformation and upgrading of the logistics industry.(Reporter: Gao Wei, Huang Lili ; Correspondent: Zhou Tingting)