In 2025, Qingdao operated 1,225 China-Europe freight trains, a year-on-year increase of 20.5 percent, marking the second consecutive year of beating the 1,000-train milestone and a seventh straight year of record highs. The trains carried 100,500 TEUs of cargo, up 20.5 percent from the previous year. Since 2018, Qingdao has dispatched over 5,500 China-Europe freight trains, accounting for more than 30 percent of Shandong province's total.

The multimodal transport center of the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) serves as a key hub.

Currently, Qingdao operates 22 regular international freight train routes, including the SCO Express, Japan-South Korea Land-Sea Express, and China-Laos International Freight Train. These routes reach 23 countries and 54 cities across the SCO and Belt and Road network, building corridors that link Japan and South Korea in the east, Eurasia in the west, Mongolia and Russia in the north, and ASEAN in the south, and creating a comprehensive, fast, and brand-strong international logistics route system.

In the first quarter of 2026, Qingdao operated 253 China-Europe freight trains, a year-on-year increase of 2.43 percent, transporting over 170,000 metric tons of cargo, up 3.1 percent from the same period last year. Both the number of train arrivals and departures and the freight volume reached new record highs for the first quarter.

Beyond cargo, the service acts as a comprehensive platform combining transport, trade, and finance, supporting Shandong's deeper integration into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and bolstering its status as a new frontier of opening-up.

China-Europe freight train services support Shandong's deeper integration into the Belt and Road Initiative, bolstering its status as a new frontier of opening-up. [Photo/Guanhai News]