A new road-rail freight transportation route has opened, delivering international cargo from Southeast Asia to Europe via southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

On Thursday, over 10,000 items of clothing, produced in Vietnam and transported to Chongqing via truck, were loaded onto a train bounded for Duisburg, Germany.

"This was the first time Chongqing has integrated road freight with Europe-bound railway services. We hope it will become a competitive cargo trade route between Southeast Asia and Europe," said Qiao Zhiyu, general manager of Chongqing-ASEAN Highway Logistics Company.

The road-rail route takes just 20 days, some 20 days less than shipping freight, Qiao said.

Chongqing began regular road freight services to Southeast Asian countries in April last year, exporting auto parts, and importing fruit, rice and timber.

The municipality will have three road freight routes, one each to Vietnam and Thailand, which are already in service, and a third to Yangon, Myanmar via Yunnan Province, which is under construction.