From January to June 2021, the Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe Railway Express (YXERE) made a total of 1,079 trips and shipped 89,228 TEUs, which accounts for about one-seventh and one-eighth of the total volume of the China-Europe Railway Express (CRE), respectively.

According to the latest data from the China National Railway Group, from January to June this year, the CRE made 7,377 trips and shipped 707,000 TEUs, a year-over-year increase of 43% and 52%, respectively, reaching a new record high. In 2020, the TEUs sent via YXERE accounted for 8.5% of the total of the CRE, and it has increased to 12.6% so far in 2021, accounting for more than 60% of the total in the Yangtze River Delta. Compared with the national average growth rate of shipping volume, 52%, the YXERE has made a year-over-year increase of 204.4%.

On November 18, 2014, the YXERE, renowned as the Iron-Steel-Camel Team, departed from Yiwu to Madrid and started its new journey on the Silk Road. The YXERE made 1 trip in 2014, 35 trips in 2015, 100 trips in 2016, 168 trips in 2017, 320 trips in 2018, 528 trips in 2019, and 1399 trips in 2020. In the seven years since it began, the YXERE has drawn a brilliant growth curve. (By Xu Zhaohui, translated by Zhang Jiajia, edited by Kendra Fiddler)