CHENGDU, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chengdu International Railway Port, a major rail port located in southwest China's Sichuan Province, handled 428,400 container boxes in the first seven months of this year, up nearly 13 percent year on year, local authorities said Friday.

The port serves as an important hub for the China-Europe freight trains, which were launched in 2011 representing a significant part of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

In the first half of 2019, the value of goods that passed through the port has reached nearly 45 billion yuan (6.4 billion U.S. dollars), up 77 percent year on year, according to the management committee of the port.

"The surge is attributed to the steadily increasing cargo on the train routes," said Zeng Yi, head of the liaison office of the management committee.

Zeng said both exports and imports of goods in the port have since 2019 tripled from the previous year, with electronics and mechanics on the China-Europe freight trains being the major merchandise, accounting for 58 percent.

The port is mulling over building a smart port that runs more autonomously with technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and mobile internet. The port is expected to handle up to 4 million standard container boxes in the future, Zeng said.