First train service with blockchain technology offers efficiency to China-Laos railway line

Logistics hub Zhengzhou, Central China’s Henan Province, sent its first international cargo train to Laos via the China-Laos Railway on March 15, 2022. The China-Laos Railway celebrated its 100th day of operation last week, having carried more than 1.2 million tons of goods and injected fresh momentum into economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN. Photo: VCG

 
A train loaded with a great variety of value-added goods such as bikes, lamps and ceramic tiles was dispatched from Chengdu’s air-rail international combined transport port, located in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, on Sunday, before heading to Vientiane, capital of Laos, marking the first time blockchain technology was applied to the international intermodal chain.

The introduction of information sharing platform, backed up by blockchain technology, is expected to boost the efficiency of the cross-border transportation line.

A manager surnamed Huang with Haibang Logistics Co, one of the consignors of the goods delivered by this train, told CCTV news that with blockchain technology, both consignors and consignees will immediately be informed upon the arrival of goods, a fact that will improve the overall efficiency of transportation.

Blockchain technology can solve the problem of distrust in the international trade with traceability, which allows all parties involved including traders, customs and railway bureaus to share information on the platform and make the information more transparent, a person in charge of the digital finance department of China Railway Chengdu Bureau Group told the media.

The technological breakthrough in international transportation came along with the one-year anniversary of the launch of the China-Laos Railway, which was put into operation on December 3, 2021.

Over the past year, the Chengdu air-rail international intermodal port has operated a total of 61 China-Laos international trains, with a total of 1,250 TEUs being delivered. The main goods included refrigerators, diesel engines, ceramic tiles and rice mills.

Global Times