Nansha is one step closer to its construction of a multimodal freight transport system, with its first China-Europe freight train in the form of highway-railway combined transport leaving from Nansha Bonded Port on July 23.

On the same day, a forum was also held discussing the methods in which to construct multimodal transport system in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention Center.

Chen Hongxian, director of Guangzhou Port Authority, said in a speech during the forum, as sea-railway combined transportation in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay faces the greatest development opportunities ever, the construction of a multimodal freight train transport system will help achieve greater efficiency in transportation and reduce logistics cost.

Nansha Port has been proactive in building the multimodal transport system.

"In 2017, the Nansha port area handled 14.06 million containers, about 70 percent of which were shipped through river-sea combined transport," remarked Pan Yuzhang, deputy director of the Nansha Development District management committee.

According to Pan, Nansha will continue to explore ways to develop the multimodal transport system and fuel the construction of international shipping center.

As of now, the Nansha port has opened 90 international liner routes, 32 domestic trade routes, 60 shuttle bus routes, and built 33 dry ports. Meanwhile, the Nansha Port railway project that started in 2015 is expected to operate in October, 2020.

Song Xiaoming, Party secretary and vice-general manager of Guangzhou Port Company Limited, said that the African lines opened by the Nansha Port took the lead in South China in terms of the number of routes and shipping schedules and the company will work with Nansha to add more Asian lines.

The two sides will establish more cooperation in combined transport businesses and strive to build a cross-border multimodal transport center.