On the afternoon of May 12, two cargo trains of China Railway Express (CRE) left Jiangsu Suzhou International Railway Logistics Center for Russia and Germany respectively, marking the first CRE transportation from Suzhou Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and the formal operation of Suzhou International Railway Logistics Center Customs Control Area that was recently established. 

The two CRE trains out of Suzhou Free Trade Zone carried dozens of industrial products made by local enterprises including numerical-control machine tools, home appliances, telecommunication base stations and medical equipment, totaling 172 TEUs, more than 1,100 tons and nearly 100 million yuan worth.

Jiangsu Suzhou International Railway Logistics Center, jointly established by the municipal government of Suzhou and China Railway Shanghai Group Co., is a waterway-railway port opening to the outside world and aiming at annual 100,000-150,000 TEUs of cargo throughput. This center has been regarded by the National Development and Reform Commission, the General Administration of Customs and the Ministry of Transport as a CRE hub, railway station opening project and a multimodal-transport demonstration. As the core of the logistics center, the Customs Control Area passed the acceptance of Nanjing Customs District in January and customs code registration in February.