At 2 a.m. on August 3rd, the X8003 China-Europe Railway Express fully loaded with goods departed from the Putian Station of China Railway Zhengzhou Group Co., Ltd., heading for Hamburg, Germany.

In the view of Lin Jiang, professor of Economics Department of Lingnan College, Sun Yat-sen University, the operation of China-Europe Railway Express provides a channel for the western region with few ports to "go out". Such a new model of supply chain featuring the railway has made it possible for the western region to better integrate into the new opening-up pattern of the country, while boosting the economic development.

As Lin noted, with the opening of China-Europe Railway Express, the eastern and western region of China are expected to integrate with each other in a new way, while a new industrial chain can also be created through the spatial layout to link together the maritime Silk Road and the land Silk Road. "With the well-developed railway network as the foundation, we also need to innovate our system and mechanism, and promote the integration of labor and capital through sci-tech innovation and data convergence, so as to boost the new round of industrial upgrading and sci-tech development. This is an important opportunity for high-quality development."

In addition, Lin said that the continuous development of China-Europe Railway Express has also brought new challenges to traditional freight forwarders. As the "point-to-point" mode of accurately finding production sources and suppliers is taking the place of the freight forwarding mode, freight forwarding business requires further transformation and upgrading.

Travelling across the Eurasian continent, China-Europe Railway Express brings more development opportunities for industries including logistics, freight forwarding, and manufacturing, while increasing the possibilities for Chinese enterprises to go global and participate in international economic and trade exchanges. According to Lin, this model is expected to transfer China's excess capacity to some Middle Eastern and Eastern European countries, freeing up more space for the development of advanced manufacturing, and thereby expanding China's foreign economic and trade relations, establishing "China's circle of friends". But at the same time, China's foreign trade enterprises and manufacturing enterprises have to come up with new economies of scale, and prepare for new challenges.

中山大学岭南学院经济系教授林江：中欧班列有望串联起海上丝路与陆上丝路

8月3日凌晨2时，满载货物的X8003次中欧班列从中国铁路郑州局集团有限公司圃田站发出，驶向德国汉堡。

在中山大学岭南学院经济系教授林江看来，中欧班列的开行让原先少有港口的西部地区有了“走出去”的通道，铁路这一新型供应链模式在助推经济发展的同时，也让西部地区更好地融入我国新型对外开放格局中。

林江表示，随着中欧班列的开行，东西部有望实现新的区域融合模式，通过空间布局打造新型产业链，串联起海上丝绸之路与陆上丝绸之路，“目前的铁路网已经十分发达，我们在拥有一定基础条件后，需要在体制机制上有所创新，通过科技创新、数据交汇来推动劳动力和资本融合，进而推动新一轮产业升级和科技进步。这也是高质量发展的重要契机。”

此外，林江表示，随着中欧班列的不断发展，传统货运代理公司也迎来了新挑战，精准寻找生产来源地和供应商的“点对点”模式深层次改变了货代运营模式，货运代理业务需要进一步转型升级。

中欧班列在亚欧大陆上驰骋，为物流、货代、制造业等领域带来更多发展机遇，也为中国企业走出去和国际经贸往来增加新的可能性。林江表示，这一模式或能将我国的过剩产能转移到部分中东、东欧国家，腾出更多空间发展先进制造业，并借此拓展我国对外经贸关系的窗口，建立起“中国朋友圈”。但与此同时，我国外贸企业和制造业企业需要寻找新的规模经济，为迎接新挑战做好准备。

出品人 | 杜传贵 林海利
总策划 | 孙爱群 孙璇 林洁
总统筹 | 吴江 蒋铮侯恕望孙晶刘佳宁骆苹
文 | 羊城晚报特派记者 孙绮曼 杭莹 陈泽云 王丹阳 李志文 付怡
图 | 梁喻
翻译 | 洪婷