Great potential for transporting import and export goods by railway

	Solutions to open up trade flows through railways
	Enhance the capacity of transporting import-export goods by rail
	Yen Vien railway station allowed to change transport mode of goods in transit

Imported and exported goods are transported by rail.

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On April 13, the working team of the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) led by Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh had a working session in Hanoi and Bac Giang province on improving the operational efficiency of international railway stations.

The working team conducted a survey of warehouses and cargo storage sites in Yen Vien Station, and the performance of customs release at the Station; checked the capacity of loading and unloading exported and imported goods of the station operators; surveyed warehouses and storage sites at Kep Station (in Bac Giang) and the possibility of upgrading to an international railway station and implementation of customs procedures and control at the station.

Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh said Vietnam and China have infrastructure that allows the transportation of goods by rail. However, the development of railways in international logistics has not caught up with the development of other transportation methods.

Amid the Covid 19-pandemic and the application of “Zero Covid” policies by the Chinese government, the transportation of cargo by rail is an effective solution. In the long term, transportation by rail has great advantages when meeting infrastructure standards.

“ Customs is ready to seek solutions to streamline and shorten customs clearance time for imports and exports. However, this work requires the coordination of agencies to provide solutions to achieve the goal of the logistics system and clear the flow of import and export goods,” the Deputy Director General said.

In order to take advantage of freight transport by rail, some Taiwanese enterprises said that rail transport has advantages in goods quantity and cost compared with other transport by land and sea.

However, these enterprises proposed strengthening investment in equipment for the operation of cargo unloading and loading such as cranes and forklifts at Yen Vien station. Companies have suggested solutions to enhance the efficiency of railway operation in transporting export and import goods such as opening more sites for storing imports in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang to reduce overloading on Yen Vien Station; establishing storage sites and checkpoints at railway stations in Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Ha Nam and Hai Phong; considering the plan of implementing customs declaration at stations of Kep - Bac Giang, Phu Ly - Ha Nam, Hai Phong.

According to the Department of Railways (Ministry of Transport), Vietnam has three international railway stations including Lao Cai, Yen Vien, Dong Dang. Of which, Lao Cai and Yen Vien stations are the two large stations at the border in charge of receiving goods and means of transport by rail between Vietnam and China and vice versa.

Proposing to approve Kep Station as an international railway station

According to Vietnam Railways (VNR), the demand for international transportation of import and export goods across Dong Dang Border Gate has increased. The transport companies planned to import and export goods of up to 200,000 tons/month in January.

However, due to the limited capacity of these stations, only 80,000 tons of goods were transported in January. Currently, about 500-600 carriages have been congested at Bang Tuong Station and along the route of Nam Ninh Station to Bang Tuong Station. Therefore, if Kep Station is established as an international railway station, it will remove the goods backlog at the border gate and at Yen Vien and Dong Dang Stations.

In the long term, if Kep Station has an international railway station, it will facilitate the establishment of a site for goods transshipment in Bac Giang and neighboring provinces, helping to reduce logistics costs and facilitate the operation of logistics operators.

The current problem is that the road from Kep Station to the national highway is a rural road, so it has not met the requirements on transporting goods by container. The VNR has proposed the local government expand the transport route from Kep Station to the national highway. VNR has proposed the Ministry of Transport develop Kep Station as an international railway station to resolve the congestion.

The Customs Control and Supervision Department cites the Customs Law as saying that enterprises are allowed to make customs declarations at the customs branch. Therefore, enterprises need to carry out the correct pre-declaration, declaration and customs clearance to ensure the smooth flow of goods.

After Kep Station is approved as an international railway station, customs will assign human resources to process procedures for imports and exports as at Yen Vien, Dong Dang and Lao Cai stations.

The Department asked VNR and businesses to work with operators at Yen Vien to invest in equipment for loading and unloading to improve the operational efficiency of the warehouse, reduce loading and unloading time, and quickly release goods at the station.

Customs will work with warehouse and yard operators at Yen Vien Station to provide appropriate solutions to improve the operational capacity of the operator, meeting the demand for import and export activities.