A day at the customs clearance point for fresh fruit

It was only 7am at Tan Thanh border gate, the sound of tractors rolling around carrying containers of fresh lychees created a very exciting atmosphere.

Means of transporting fresh lychees are arranged with priority in separate lanes at Tan Thanh border gate. Photo: H.Nu

Every year, when the fresh lychee crop is harvested, the collection and transportation atmosphere occurs not only in Bac Giang and Hai Duong but also in the border gates.

To acknowledge this activity, we were present at Tan Thanh border gate (Lang Son) very early - a place chosen by many companies and traders to carry out procedures to export this item to China. When it was not time for the Chinese side to open the border gate to receive goods, a convoy of refrigerated trucks carrying fresh lychees was waiting for one after another.

At this time, the number of vehicles transporting fresh fruit to the border gates of Lang Son province for export to China is increasing. And currently, in Lang Son, import and export activities take place at four border gates: Huu Nghi international border gate, Dong Dang international railway station border gate, Chi Ma border gate and Tan Thanh border gate. It is worth mentioning that more than 80% of fresh fruits are selected by enterprises and traders to carry out customs clearance procedures at Tan Thanh border gate for export to China.

At border gates and wharves, functional forces and operators have actively divided the means of transport of imported and exported goods. Bao Nguyen car park, where most of the means of transporting import and export goods are concentrated, has arranged positions for trucks carrying fresh fruit for export. In particular, the functional forces always give priority to trucks carrying fresh fruit for export to be cleared in the morning to ensure quality.

Talking to us at the border gate, Mr. Phung Van Ba, Deputy Director of Tan Thanh Customs Sub-Department (Lang Son Customs Department), said that although the customs clearance performance at Tan Thanh border gate has improved, however, in order to create favorable conditions for fresh fruits, especially lychee for export, to be done quickly, to avoid damage to enterprises, the unit has developed many solutions.

Tan Thanh Customs has arranged staff 24/7 ready to receive and process declarations for enterprises outside office hours; coordinate with Border Guard forces and enterprises to divide the lines of vehicles properly. With the declarations still having errors, the professional teams actively informed the enterprises to promptly correct them, in the view of always creating the most favourable conditions for enterprises to export agricultural products through the border gate.

“Especially, since the beginning of May, the unit has made lychee a priority item for early delivery. At the same time, coordinate with Border Guard forces to arrange vehicles transporting this item to go through the priority channel during the day,” said Mr. Phung Van Ba.

Since the beginning of May, Tan Thanh Customs has received and completed procedures for over 1,569 sets of export registration declarations for fresh lychee products with the amount of 60,142 tons, worth over US$13.7 million. In June alone, every day, about 300 means of transporting agricultural products were allowed to carry out export procedures, of which the number of means of transporting fresh lychees accounted for more than half, an increase of about 30% compared to the previous month.

Present at Tan Thanh border gate to carry out the declaration procedures for exporting fresh lychees to China, Ms. Vu Quynh Trang, representative of Vu Hong Hai Import-Export Company, said that fresh lychees are a special preserved item because of its perishability, usually only for 3-4 days, especially in hot weather like now, so for the most convenient transportation, the company has preserved them with refrigerated containers.

Ms. Vu Quynh Trang added that, with the requirement of implementing measures to cut and connect containers, preserving fresh lychees by refrigerated containers will ensure the best quality.

Walking around at Bao Nguyen car park under the heat of over 35 degrees, we recorded shipments of fresh fruit, especially lychee, arranged in the area by functional forces and wharf enterprises separately, with frozen containers.

Therefore, when the enterprises complete the declaration procedures as prescribed, the driver will bring the truck into the priority lane and clear customs straight to China.

We also noticed that most of the trucks carrying fresh lychees were cleared by the functional forces in the morning. The most noticeable thing at Tan Thanh border gate this year is that the congestion of trucks transporting agricultural products and fresh fruits in the export season is no longer occurring.

In particular, at Tan Thanh border gate, transportation, delivery, container cutting, loading, and carrying out procedures for goods are carried out continuously by functional forces and enterprises from early morning to night.

It can be seen that, although at this time, export activities still face certain difficulties because the Chinese side maintains strict control in the prevention of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the spirit of creating the best conditions for enterprises, functional forces in general and Lang Son Customs, in particular, have been proactive and flexible in implementing solutions to facilitate the delivery of fresh fruit trucks for export.

This not only helps the Customs office ensure efficiency in trade facilitation but also empowers localities across the country to consume fresh fruit during this period.