CRRC Qiqihar Co., Ltd., China's biggest freight wagon manufacturer by production volume, got 7,900 freight wagon orders from home and abroad in the first quarter, gaining new growth momentum after two years of declining market conditions.
China Railway Corp, the country's railway operator, remained the manufacturer's biggest customer, ordering 7,500 wagons, with the remaining 400 sold to South Korea for cement tanker wagons.
In addition to wagons sold to South Korea, CRRC Qiqihar has shipped the first 60 wagons to the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya, with a second group of 500 on their way.
Partnering with China Road and Bridge Corp, the company took up the 10-year maintenance and repair service contract for the Mombasa-Nairobi railway. This project is CRRC Qiqihar's first service business in an overseas market.
The company just launched a new type of product, the piggyback wagon, to further compete with road transportation. Such freight wagons can carry trucks to further cut transportation time and fuel cost, especially for long-distance journeys.
The company encountered its first financial loss in 2015, affected by the declining demand for global commodities including coal, oil, steel and construction materials between 2014 and 2016.
But 2017 appears to be a turnaround for the company. During the first quarter, sales revenue of CRRC Qiqihar reached 940 million yuan ($137 million), up 84.31 percent from a year earlier. The company maintained and repaired a total of 2,550 freight wagons between January and March.
The company has exported more than 40,000 freight wagons to more than 30 countries and regions, including the Australia, Brazil, Kazakhstan and Mozambique.
It started production on 150 wagons for New Zealand's state-run KiwiRail this month.