China-Laos friendship: Changes along golden railway
Thai reporter Jaruwan Udomsab interviews a staffer at the airport area of Kunming Free Trade Zone.
The “China-Laos Friendship via Railway of Happiness” international networks media tour kicked off on May 23.
Under taken by the Yunnan Gateway, a multilingual web portal under Yunnan Daily Press Group, the event is sponsored by the Cyberspace Affairs Office of Yunnan Party Committee.
On the first day, the reporters visited the Kunming Free Trade Zone and the Thanaleng Dry Port in Vientiane, where they were impressed by changes brought by the promising China-Laos railway to Kunming, Yunnan province.
New businesses bring about new growth
The China-Laos Railway opened to traffic on December 3, 2021. As the starting point of China-Laos railway international freight service, the Kunming Central Station of China Railway Inter-modal has operated 169 trains with 3,780 compartments as of May 22 this year, transporting 75,000 tons cargo that is valued at 3.33 billion yuan.
"Our company's goods will be loaded today," said Chen Yanan, operational director of Haihan International Logistics Service. Given the Covid pandemic, railway transportation is more reliable, carrying large volume of goods with low cost.
Since the opening of China-Laos Railway last December, the company has transported about 200 containers of cargo per month. The exported goods are textiles, electronic products, daily necessities, vegetables, e-commerce products, and the imported include natural rubber and iron ore.
From January on, freight volume of the company has been increasing, and now the goods are more diverse and value-added. Through multi-modal transport, the products are sold to consumers not only in Laos, but also in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Singapore and others.
The Yunnan-based Xiangmei Supply Chain is another firm settled in the Kunming FTZ. Starting in March this year, the company has been exporting via e-commerce platforms and the China-Laos railway.
The CRINTERMODAL Kunming Central Station
Zhou Jie, deputy general manager of the Yunnan company, said that they started the "9610" e-commerce business mode in 2019, and now the daily export volume is 30,000 to 50,000 packages.
Cooperating with e-commerce platforms in Thailand, they sold daily necessities, shoes and bags, home textiles, household appliances and others to Thai consumers by rail-road transport.
“The cost of railway freight was reduced by about 50% compared with that of air transport,” said Zhou. “And it takes about 7 days to get to Thailand, saving half of the time compared with road transport.” In the future, the company will rely more on the China-Laos railway.
New challenges give rise to new skills
On May 23 evening, a freight train full of Chinese products departed from the CRIINTERMODAL Kunming Central Station, and it will arrive at Vientiane South Station in Laos within 27 hours.
“With just 30 staff members, our freight station handles around 20,000 containers daily,” said Xu Chao, deputy general manager of the CRIINTERMODAL Kunming Central Station.
Xu noted that smart management has allowed them to carry out international freight with high efficiency. The Kunming station has laid out 11 lanes in the cargo field, four of which belong to the loading and unloading freight lines.
On the four lines, a remote-monitoring system operates a maximum of 200 (un)loading vehicles at the same time. And the Lancang-Mekong Express freight trains run along the China-Laos railway three times a week, offering smart logistic services to businesses in the river basin.
Since launch of the Lancang-Mekong Express freight services, the CRINTERMODAL station has seen goods from Sichuan, Chongqing, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shanghai, Shandong, Guangxi and other Chinese provinces exported to the Mekong countries. Their trip to Vientiane, Laos was facilitated by special freight trains with a speed of 120 kilometers per hour.
Established in March 2021, the newly-started Kaifeng International Trading Company has focused on businesses related to the China-Laos railway. Since the railway’s opening, the company has facilitated custom clearance for 2,600 batches of international goods.
The CRINTERMODAL Kunming Central Station
Zhang Rongrong, business director of Kaifeng company, said the guidance by local customs officers has improved their professionalism.And her idea was echoed by a Kunming postal worker.
"The China-Laos railway calls for upgrades by customs and businesses alike,” said Zhu Feng, a custom staffer at Kunming Post Office, citing higher requirements in checkups, service and safety.
To ensure smooth operation of the China-Laos railway international freight services, Kunming Customs has set up integrated “one-stop” services to reduce operating costs and improve customs efficiency for enterprises.
"In the customs transit export, for example, the goods to be exported are inspected and sealed at the origin. When the train arrives at Mohan check point, the customs staff will need to check the seal only."
As of April 10, Kunming Free Trade Zone has exported goods worth 808 million yuan via the China-Laos railway. Next, Kunming Customs will fasten checkups for international trains, increasing market procurement and cross-border e-commerce with the railway.
Reporting by Liu Ziyu, Wang Huan, Bi Yiqian, Yang Chunmei, Yao Chengcheng and Li Jingshuo (Yunnan Daily); Trans-editing by Wang Shixue