Customs officers of Dong Dang station check the sealing of freight cars before the train leaves the station. Photo: H.Nu

Success from the first shipment

Talking to reporters, the Director of the Customs Branch of Dong Dang international railway station, Nguyen Huu Minh, said that to meet the needs of Vietnamese and Chinese enterprises, on the afternoon of June 5, the Customs Branch Dong Dang international railway station had carried out pilot procedures to export the first shipment of Luc Ngan litchi to China.

This is considered a new direction, opening up opportunities for Vietnamese agricultural products to be exported to China quickly because road border gates are still facing many limitations today.

Ratraco is one of three railway transport business units - a member of Vietnam Railways Corporation.

To serve the litchi crop in 2023, the unit has prepared specialized freight vehicles that can meet the transportation demand from 200 tons to 300 tons of fresh lychee/day, meeting the demand transporting fresh lychee by international railway to Guangxi, Yunnan (China) provinces and the southern provinces of our country.

Accordingly, Ratraco will bring specialized refrigerated containers to enterprises' warehouses when transporting fresh lychees to China by international rail. After the goods are packed and loaded onto the container, Ratraco will transport them to the Kep international intermodal terminal for transportation to the border gate of the international railway station to complete the procedures to export the goods. To export fresh lychees to China by rail, enterprises must complete the procedures to export goods by official channels.

According to preliminary calculations, 1 container of refrigerated goods transported from Luc Ngan to Bang Tuong will cost about 30 million VND and a standard container is about 20 million VND. Regarding travel time, after packing enough goods (about 20 containers/trip), from Luc Ngan to Bang Tuong station is expected to take approximately 12 hours (including customs clearance time).

According to a representative of Ratraco, in the coming days, the unit will continue to cooperate with import-export enterprises of agricultural products and the Customs Branch of Dong Dang international railway station to carry out export shipments of fresh fruits, especially fresh litchi products from Bac Giang to the Chinese market.

Ratraco provides refrigerated containers to preserve fresh lychees and transports them to the Dong Dang international terminal for export to China. Photo: Tuan Duong

As one of the units with many years of exporting lychee, a representative of An Khang Co., Ltd. shared that, although the rail freight rate is not much lower than that of road transport, the travel time is faster, overcoming goods congestion at the border gate. After this trial shipment, if the criteria and conditions are met, enterprises will choose to use the transportation of agricultural products and fresh fruits by rail.

Strategic and sustainable solutions

Accompanying businesses and people, besides the efforts of agencies and functional forces, currently Dong Dang International Railway Station Customs Sub-Department has informed and propagated to the business community so that businesses can understand the situation, thereby shifting to import and export goods through the railway border gate.

At the same time, Dong Dang Station Customs has also been closely coordinating with Dong Dang Station to ensure the good implementation of the control, operation, and transportation of wagons and goods based on strictly implementing the disease control process, ensuring the complete elimination of possible risks.

Talking to reporters, a representative of Lang Son Customs Department said that in the face of limited customs clearance activities, Lang Son Customs had implemented many plans and solutions to improve the capacity of customs clearance for export goods, creating favourable conditions for businesses and traders to export agricultural products and fresh fruits through border gates in the province.

Cargo trains move from Dong Dang international station to Pingxiang Station (China). Photo: Tuan Duong

In particular, Lang Son Customs recommends that people and businesses register for declarations in advance when goods arrive at the border gate; they can carry out export procedures immediately without having to wait, prioritizing customs procedures for fresh fruit goods; arrange qualified civil servants to directly receive procedures until 23 o'clock to advise and answer difficulties and problems for enterprises promptly. In particular, Lang Son Customs regularly exchange talks with the Chinese side to grasp the situation and closely coordinate with functional forces at the border gate to create maximum favourable conditions for enterprises and traders to export illegal goods of fresh plants and agricultural products through the province.

However, according to a representative of the Lang Son Customs Department, this time is the main harvest of fruits and agricultural products in localities across the country, so every day, there are hundreds of trucks transporting these items to the border gate in Lang Son province to register for export procedures to China.

Although Lang Son Customs has scripted and offered many options and solutions to speed up customs clearance, especially fresh fruits, the clearance of goods is still limited. Therefore, Lang Son Customs suggested that enterprises research and carry out export procedures for agricultural products and fresh fruits through Dong Dang international railway station because exporting agricultural products and fresh fruits by railway will be a strategic and sustainable solution.