Uploaded containers are seen at Qingdao Port in Shandong province on Jan 9, 2023. [Photo/VCG]

"As the only outlet to the sea in the Yellow River Basin, Shandong has made full use of its advantages to build a convenient and efficient sea-rail combined transport mode, which will shorten the distance between inland cities along the Yellow River and the ocean," said Guan Changfeng, deputy to the National People's Congress and general manager of China Railway Jinan Group Co Ltd.

Guan introduced that in the past two years, more and more large-scale enterprises along the Yellow River have chosen combined sea and rail transportation to transport raw materials needed for production and ensure the stable supply of the industrial chain. Their completed products are also expected to be delivered overseas by combined sea and rail transportation to save costs.

"Freight trains from Lanzhou in Gansu province, Wuzhong in Ningxia Hui autonomous region and Yulin in Shaanxi province are gathering in Shandong and then sailing out across the world from Shandong ports," Guan said.

In recent years, Shandong has made full use of its geographical advantage as the only outlet to the sea in the Yellow River Basin, and developed combined sea-rail transport, which has achieved fruitful results.

At present, the Shandong Port Group has completed the layout and construction of 31 inland ports in the Yellow River Basin, and built a multimodal logistics service platform in the area.

The new mode of "one order system" of multimodal transport has been successfully promoted in Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Luoyang and other places, greatly benefiting inland import and export enterprises.