Mong Cai Border Gate Customs Branch makes great effort in performing work

	About 1,000 packages of cigarettes stored in bonded warehouse
	Goods cleared within a day across border crossing on pontoon bridge km 3+4

Officers of Customs Enforcement Team No.1 perform work when the night falls. Photo: Q.H

Preventing the backlog of declarations

Mong Cai City is the largest import-export area of Quang Ninh. Motivated by great efforts of Mong Cai Border Gate Customs Branch and relevant enforcement units, the import and export turnover across the area in 2024 see positive results.

As of November 15, Mong Cai Border Gate Customs Branch processed procedures for 85,813 declarations of 1,321 enterprises (a year-on-year increase of 325 enterprises). The total import and export turnover reached more than US$3.632 billion.

The number of declarations rose 18%, and the import and export turnover went up 24% year-on-year.

Thanks to the improvement in import and export activities, the branch’s revenue surged. As of November 15, the revenue increased by 50% to VND2,062.5 billion compared to the same period in the previous year, reaching 128.9% of the target of the whole year.

When reporters arrived to the headquarters of Mong Cai Border Gate Customs Branch, many officers of the branch still work. The branch’s leader said that the leaders and officers of the Export and Import Cargo Procedures Team still process all declarations within the day.

According to the leader of the Export and Import Cargo Procedures Team, on average each day (including Saturday and Sunday), the branch receives from 200 to 300 declarations, of which about 30% of declarations declared outside of the working hour (after 5:00 p.m.).

In order to process all declarations within the day, the officers have regularly performed task outside the working hours.

“For example, the declaration 106755…. of T. Transport Company Limited (Ka Long Ward, Mong Cai City) was transmitted to the VNACCS/VCIS System at 5:52 p.m. After the declaration was updated on the system, the branch’s leader assigned the declaration to officer for processing. According to regulations, for Yellow Channel declarations (subject to be checked the details of the documents), the processing time is no more than 2 hours from the time of receiving the documents on the system.

After receiving the declaration, customs officers check declarations. If the documents meet the requirements, they will be processed customs clearance procedures. If they do not meet requirements, the officers will request the enterprises to supplement documents.

“For declarations with few and simple goods, the customs officer spends about 10 to 15 minutes on checking documents. For the complicated goods related to specialized inspection…, it takes a longer time to check documents” the leader said.

For large number of Yellow declarations and declarations uploaded to the system outside of the working hours, the team’s officers often have to work up to 20 hours a day to processes all declarations, or even work later.

For example, in October, the Department received 7,236 declarations, including 41.5% of Yellow declarations.

“The Team arranges officers to perform work all day to process procedures for enterprises” the leader said.

Clearing flow of imports and exports

Reporters noted that the working time of the Customs Control and Supervision Team No. 1 (Mong Cai Border Gate Customs Branch) ended even later.

Bac Luan II Border Gate is the the most important import-export area in Mong Cai, managed by the Customs Control and Supervision Team No. 1.

The Export and Import Cargo Procedures Team arranges officers to process customs procedures even during lunch breaks or lunch and dinner hours.

About one km from the border gate, the import and export activities at the check point of Tan Dai Duong Company (located in Bac Luan II Border Gate) took place lively at night.

Mr. Hoang Van Son, Lihong International Logistics Company Limited (Mong Cai City) said that as a logistics service provider, and the company has 4-5 trucks carrying imported goods from China every day.

“Every day, we send vehicles from Vietnam to China to pick up goods. After packing goods and completing procedures with Chinese authorities, we enter the country to carry out procedures after 5:00 pm, even later.

Because we had a schedule and plan, we registered with the Customs to complete procedures and clear the goods within the day to timely transport cargo to the factory in Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, Nam Dinh... Because if our vehicles had to stay at the border gate, we would spend about VND2 million/vehicle/day. If we did not transport cargo on time, it will affect the production and business activities of domestic enterprises and jobs of workers. Especially at the end of the year, there are many orders, so the request to bring raw materials to the factory early to serve production is even more urgent,” said Mr. Hoang Van Son.

Son said that he has been working in Mong Cai for about six years, he had to work until 10 or 11 pm, even during the Covid-19 pandemic, working hours were even later.

The leader of the Team No. 1 said that the team processes customs procedures for about 200-300 vehicles carrying imported and exported goods. Many vehicles transporting cargo from China arrive late, so the team assigned officers to ensure smooth customs clearance for enterprises.

We left Bac Luan II Border Gate at 10 p.m. But activities at the border gate was still bustling. Many vehicles had completed procedures and run towards the Ha Long - Mong Cai expressway to deliver goods to factories in many localities.