A drone photo taken on Nov. 29, 2025 shows trains of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) at the Qinzhou Port East Railway Station in Qinzhou City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The ILSTC, a key logistics route connecting western China to global markets, had transported a cumulative total of more than 5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo as of Saturday, according to China Railway Nanning Group Co., Ltd. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin)

The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC), a key logistics route connecting western China to global markets, had transported a cumulative total of more than 5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo as of Saturday, according to China Railway Nanning Group Co., Ltd.

The corridor connects the Silk Road Economic Belt in the north with the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in the south, coordinating with the Yangtze River Economic Belt and playing a crucial role in China's coordinated regional development strategy. Since its pilot run in 2017, the ILSTC has evolved into a strategic route linking China's inland regions with the markets of ASEAN countries and other parts of the world.

By Saturday, cargo volume along the corridor this year had reached 1.31 million TEUs -- surging over 50 percent year on year.

"While it took more than four years to deliver the first one million TEUs, the fifth million was achieved in just over 240 days, underscoring the corridor's strong vitality and expanding reach," said Zhong Chaowen with Guangxi Yanhai Railway Co., Ltd.

Data show that since the beginning of 2025, the corridor's exports have mainly consisted of chemicals, machinery parts and new energy vehicles, while imports have primarily included bauxite, coal and grain.

In the first three quarters of this year, China's western regions recorded 611.5 billion yuan (about 86.4 billion U.S. dollars) in imports and exports via the ILSTC, an increase of 19.3 percent year on year. The corridor also drove up the overall foreign trade growth of western regions by 3.4 percentage points.