(Yicai Global) June 8 -- Football fans in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which will kick off in Russia on June 14, will be able to enjoy the tournament games while eating China's popular food as some 100,000 crayfish produced in Jingzhou, central Hubei province, are shipped to Moscow via China-Europe express train.

The crayfish is stored in cold chains throughout the journey and will arrive in Moscow in time for one of the world's biggest sporting events. Containers packed with crayfish have electric temperature control systems that can keep them permanently below minus 18 degrees Celsius.

A food consumption report by China Cuisine Association, CCA, named crayfish as China's favorite meal last year. It now is set to be a global dish on the plates of football fans during the World Cup tournament in Russia. In 2016, some 90 percent of crayfish consumed in Europe came from China, Xinhua said.

As the Belt and Road construction progresses, economic and trade exchanges between China and the European countries along the route have grown rapidly; logistics demand has been strong; and trade channels and models have been continually enriched, offering development opportunities for the China-Europe Express Train program.

Belt and Road is a grand plan for a vast infrastructure and trade route boasting a major network of railroads, highways, ports and pipelines embracing the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa.

With the export of crayfish by the China-Europe freight trains, the volume of goods transported via the railway route has also reached peak levels.

Connecting Continents

The China-Europe express train route has become a key channel of land transportation in the global logistics market since the program debuted in March 2011. It has seen over 7,600 trips made as of March, with 61 routes connecting Chinese cities with 41 centers in 13 European countries.

Goods transported by China-Europe trains have become increasingly diversified and now include clothing, footwear, cars and components, food, wine, coffee beans, timber, chemicals, machinery equipment and pulp.

The rise of the express train program has helped promote trade connectivity along the Belt and Road route. Transportation via the China-Europe express trains, which travel through two continents only cuts the travel time by two-thirds compared with the sea routes, experts said.

They also represent safe, efficient and convenient "through trains" for trade between China and Europe and can help promote the export of quality Chinese-made light industrial products.

Editor: Mevlut Katik