At 20:40 on July 9, 30 railway heavy containers loaded with 900 tons of imported soybeans taking freight train No. 44506, departed from Ezhoubei Railway Station of Wuchang Train Depot of China Railway Wuhan Bureau Group Co., Ltd., and headed for Hengyang, Qidongxi and Santang Railway Stations in Hunan Province. This batch of soybeans, a total of 71,000 tons, is purchased from America and Oceania by Sinograin, transported to Zhoushan Port by a 100,000-ton sea ship, transferred to Ezhou Sanjiang Port by a 10,000-ton river ship, marshaled at Ezhoubei Railway Station and then sent to Hunan.
In the past, the imported grain of Sinograin was usually changed into a 10,000-ton river ship at Zhoushan Port, and then changed into a 1,000-ton river ship at Zhangjiagang and Zhenjiang Port to enter the Xiang River waterway, and then transferred to the factory by automobile after landing nearby. Repeated reloading not only prolonged the transportation cycle, but also caused cargo damages. Especially during the flood season, the water level in the Yangtze River basin was rising continuously, and the river speed became faster, which does not facilitate a safe sailing. The water transport business from Yangtze River to the Xiang River increased the safety risk, prolonged the shipping time, and even increased the shipping price by 30% to 50%, which exerted a great impact on the grain import projects of Sinograin.
After knowing the actual difficulties of the company, Ezhoubei Railway Station of Wuchang Train Depot, together with Wuhan Railway Logistics Center and China Railway Container Wuhan Branch, takes the initiative to visit the company, coordinates with partners such as Hubei Port Group, Zhejiang Port Group and Chongqing Hangxun Logistics, and takes advantage of Sanjiang Port's deep-water harbor and its connectivity with Wuhan-Jiujiang Railway to tailor a set of Railway-Water combined transport plan for the company, that is, the goods will be shipped to Sanjiang Port by a 10,000-ton river ship, then landed, loaded into railway heavy containers, and directly delivered to Hunan from Ezhoubei Railway Station. The plan solves the problems of unstable logistics supply chain, long-time cycle and rising cost at one stroke, which is appreciated by the company. So far, China Railway Wuhan Bureau Group Company has extended the transportation service of grain goods for Sinograin to Hunan province from Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Chongqing regions.
In recent years, relying on the advantages of the golden waterway of the Yangtze River, Ezhoubei Railway Station has vigorously developed “Sea,+River+ Railway” combined transport, with an annual cargo delivery volume of more than 4.5 million tons, providing a strong transportation guarantee for promoting the development of combined transport in Hubei, constructing integrated multidimensional transportation along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and improving the stability of industrial chain and supply chain.