A China-Europe freight train leaves Xi'an International Trade and Logistics Park in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, April 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

A special China-Europe freight train carrying Christmas goods is on the way to Germany's Duisburg, from where the shipment will be dispatched to other European countries including Poland, Belgium, Sweden, France, and the Netherlands.

The train, loaded with 50 TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit) of goods worth 20 million yuan (about 3.1 million U.S. dollars), departed from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Nov. 5, and is expected to arrive in Europe after around 16 days, Shenzhen Customs said Monday.

Manufactured mainly in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, the export items are in high demand during the Christmas shopping season in Europe, such as clothing, shoes, fitness equipment, electric fireplace, LED lighting and auto parts.

The special cargo service was launched to meet the urgent requirements of cross-border e-commerce companies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and surrounding cities.

"September and October mark the peak season for the shipment of Christmas-related orders. But, there have been capacity constraints in maritime and land transport this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Wang Ping, deputy general manager of Shenzhen Huashang International Supply Chain Service Co., Ltd., adding that without the train service, manufacturers might have to choose more expensive air freight.

The train service can slash the transportation cost by 30 percent compared with sea routes and takes only about 20 percent of the air freight cost, Wang added, expressing his joy over the "timely" arrangement of the service.

Launched in August, 2020, the 13,438-km Shenzhen-Duisburg route is among the longest China-Europe freight train lines. It had handled 131 trips by the end of October, transporting 81,400 tonnes of goods worth more than 3.4 billion yuan.

China-Europe freight train trips have seen a robust growth momentum since the start of 2021, with the total number surging 32 percent year on year to reach 10,030 by the end of August, data from the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. showed.

During the period, the freight trains transported approximately 964,000 TEUs containers of goods, up 40 percent from the same period in 2020.

The China-Europe freight trains plying along 73 routes have transported goods to more than 170 cities in 23 European countries. The train services also provided transport support for the economic and social development in countries and regions along the Belt and Road.