On 20 November 2008, the Shaoguan-Yantian Container Rail Service Agreement was officially signed by representatives from YICT, the Shaoguan Municipal Government, Guangzhou Railway Group and China Railway Container Transport Corporation (Guangzhou). Under this agreement, a new two-way intermodal service, launching in December this year, will run three services every week transporting cargo between Shaoguan and Shenzhen.
Shaoguan, a city in northern Guangdong Province, is one of many new and important centres for labour-intensive industries transferring from the Pearl River Delta. The new intermodal service will be ideally placed to provide shippers with a door-to-door cargo transport service, which is environmentally friendly, cost-effective. Two of the world's largest toy companies, Hasbro and Mattel, are already planning to use the Shaoguan-Yantian service.
Under the agreement, the Shaoguan Municipal Government will provide supporting services and facilities, including customs clearance, inspection and supervision, trucking, consolidation and distribution, and supervised container depots. Guangzhou Railway will provide land and facilities for the operation of the intermodal service. YICT will provide terminal services, coordination between shippers and shipping companies, and container handling equipment for the Shaoguan terminal.
The agreement also covers the new YICT inland port project. In recent years, YICT has been putting much effort in exploring China's inland market for more cargo sources and has made the construction of its inland port a strategic goal. As factories continue to move northwards from the Pearl River Delta towards inland China, the case for developing an inland port, with integrated functions such as customs clearance, container storage and supply chain management, is becoming a strong one especially for the relocated enterprises.
Cooperation under the agreement will, as believed by all involved, help reduce cargo transport costs in Shaoguan and thus improve the local investment environment. Moreover, it will bring Shaoguan more business from adjacent cities such as Chenzhou in Hunan and Ganzhou in Jiangxi. YICT has previously signed cooperation agreements with Yangjiang and Zhongshan in Guangdong Province on the provision of feeder services and has since launched container rail services between Yantian and the cities and townships of Dalang and Huangpu in Guangdong, Liling in Hunan, Kunming in Yunnan, and Ganzhou in Jiangxi.
From left to right: Representatives from YICT, Guangzhou Railway Group, the Shaoguan Municipal Government, and China Railway Container Transport Corporation (Guangzhou), sign the agreement.