The east route of the China-Europe freight railway, which includes the Manzhouli Port in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the Suifenhe and Tongjiang ports in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has seen the passage of 4,583 trains, a year-on-year increase of nine percent, setting a new record. 

Data from China Railway Harbin Bureau Group shows that the trains passing through the east route transported 489,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a measure of volume in units of twenty-foot long containers, of goods, showing a year-on-year increase of 21.9 percent. 

Among the three ports, 3,891 trains passed through the Manzhouli, transporting 420,000 TEUs of goods, with 684 trains passing through Suifenhe, transporting 68,000 TEUs of goods, both hitting a historic high. 

Eight trains passed through the Tongjiang Port, which opened in the third quarter this year, sending 880 TEUs of cargo, and the port has also opened a new route for China-Europe freight trains. 

The east route of the China-Europe freight railway has reached 13 countries, including Russia, Poland, Germany and Belgium, and connected more than 60 cities in China. 

With 24 passages, the east route can support freight trains to send 12 major categories of goods, such as electrical products, daily necessities, industrial machinery, metals, agricultural and sideline products and wood. 

In the first nine months of the year, the number of trains using the east route accounted for nearly half of the total number of returned freight trains, and the number of returned freight trains from other countries through the Manzhouli Port ranked first in China. 

The China-Europe freight railway has three main routes – the west, east, and middle. The east route mainly focuses on the import and export of goods between east China, south China and northeast China, and the European countries, according to China Railway.