Xiamen's cross-border e-commerce grows rapidly over the years thanks to the Silk Road Maritime project. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The e-commerce container ship Haifeng Xianfeng docked at Xiamen Port on Nov 22, which operates on a point-to-point direct express shipping route between Xiamen and Manila, the Philippines, with a travel time of just two days.

The e-commerce express route, which operates under the Silk Road Maritime platform, offers a convenient and effective shipping route for foreign trade enterprises in Xiamen and Manila, and ensures that the exported goods can be delivered in a short amount of time.

In 2018, Xiamen launched the Silk Road Maritime, a new logistics facilitation platform, which aims to add tremendous value to shipping operations in the eastern region by optimizing routes currently in use.

Silk Road Maritime plays an important role in enhancing transportation networks and promoting trade in countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Up to now, a total of 94 routes joined the Silk Road Maritime platform, which connects 108 ports in 31 countries and regions, and the new logistics platform has been playing an important role in enhancing transportation networks and promoting trade in countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Xiamen's cross-border e-commerce has grown rapidly over the past years thanks to the launch of the Silk Road Maritime platform. In 2021, the import and export volume of Xiamen's cross-border e-commerce totaled 8.55 billion yuan ($1.23 billion), up 207 percent year-on-year, and its cross-border exports stood at 7.73 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 203 percent, according to official data.

This June, Xiamen opened the first e-commerce express shipping route under the Silk Road Maritime, which has played an important role in helping local foreign trade enterprises go global with higher efficiency and lower costs. In the past six months, a total of 7,850 twenty-foot equivalent units have operated on the express route. The stable and efficient e-commerce services the routes offer have attracted an increasing number of customers in surrounding areas such as Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.