Lang Son: Goods rushing to border gate increases sharply, potential risk of congestion

A large number of backlogged goods

According to statistical reports from the Dong Dang - Lang Son border gate economic zone authority showed that, on March 27, border gates in Lang Son province cleared 1,115 vehicles transporting import-export goods, including 486 trucks transporting exported goods (375 fruit trucks and 111 other trucks) and 629 trucks transporting imported goods.

As of 8 p.m. on March 27, the number of vehicles transporting exported goods backlogging at border gate areas in Lang Son province was 950 vehicles, including 787 fruit trucks, a decrease of 41 vehicles compared to the evening of March 26.

For example, 440 vehicles were backlogged at Huu Nghi international border gate, Tan Thanh border gate 441 vehicles, Coc Nam border gate 30 fruit trucks, Chi Ma border gate were 39 trucks of other goods.

Preliminary at Huu Nghi international border gate, on March 19-20, the number of vehicles transporting import and export goods from inland to the border gate area increased. Therefore, there was a time it caused congestion at the border gate.

The number of vehicles transporting goods that are backlogged at border area of Lang Son province increase sharply. Photo: H.Nụ

According to the statistics of Lang Son Customs Department, the flow of vehicles transporting import and export goods cleared from March 16 to 22, increased by 1.5% compared to the previous week. The increase in the volume of goods also helped bring the total import-export turnover to US$103.74 million, growing 14.2% compared to the previous week. In particular, export turnover reached US$58.33 million, an increase of 57%; import turnover reached US$45.41 million, declining 15%.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Hoang Khanh Duy, Deputy Director of Dong Dang-Lang Son border gate economic zone authority, said that, currently, Huu Nghi international border gate area and Tan Thanh border gate have a huge number of vehicles transporting exported goods from inland to the border gate area of the two countries Vietnam – China which is increasing day by day and potentially caused congestion at the border gate. At the same time, Vietnamese drivers, when entering China, are not used to declaring information at the request of China, so it partly affected the time of carrying out export procedures.

When restoring the traditional delivery method, the number of vehicles after returning goods (Chinese cars) at the Huu Nghi international border gate also increased, leading to congestion in the area waiting to carry out the process of leaving China.

Increasing working hours to prevent congestion

Faced with that situation, Dong Dang - Lang Son border gate economic zone authority has directed the Border Gate Management Center to chair and coordinate with competent forces at the border gate to research and unify the implementation of solutions to minimize congestion and ensure cargo clearance activities.

Accordingly, to solve the problem of congestion, on March 19, Lang Son province held a direct talk with the Management Board of Pingxiang General Bonded Zone, Guangxi, China at Km0, landmark area 1116-1117 to discuss the contents related to the situation of import and export of goods through Huu Nghi international border gate.

Through the talks, the two sides have agreed to arrange a priority time for empty vehicles from China to enter Vietnam in two-time frames, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. In addition, Vietnamese drivers entering China need to proactively prepare personal information, passport number and Covid-19 PCR test paper within 48 hours to declare and complete clearance procedures. At the same time, it recommends businesses to arrange fixed drivers to reduce the time of entry inspection from China.

Huu Nghi Customs arranges customs officers to receive and handle procedures for enterprise. Photo: H.Nụ

Based on talks, Dong Dang - Lang Son border gate economic zone authority issued a warning about the risk of cargo congestion and informed to owners of goods, businesses and drivers to understand the information exchanged to avoid increasing time and cost.

The Dong Dang-Lang Son border gate economic zone authority also directed the Dong Dang-Lang Son Border Gate Management Center to coordinate with the competent forces at the border gate to try to implement the agreed plans as discussed in the talks, minimizing congestion, and ensuring smooth clearance performance.

However, through capturing information from businesses and owners of goods, there are in the harvest season for agricultural products in some southern provinces. Hence, it resulted in a rapid increase in the demand for import and export goods clearance at border gates. Therefore, Lang Son province has also proactively planned for the case of an increasing number of trucks transporting goods to the border gate, causing congestion at the border gate.

To prevent the recurrence of congestion and ensure cargo clearance through Huu Nghi international border gate following regulations, quickly and conveniently, the competent forces at the border gate have actively exchanged and coordinated with the Chinese side's competent forces to agree that the two sides would work overtime (increase by 1 hour) to clear and release the trucks carrying import and export goods from the two sides.

In particular, according to a representative of Huu Nghi Customs Branch (Lang Son Customs Department), the unit actively coordinated with competent forces at the border gate to implement solutions to release all vehicles transporting imported goods from China that have been returned goods and "re-exported" within the same day, thereby contributing to release parking lots in the border gate area, and at the same time helping to avoid local congestion in the border gate area.

Besides that, Huu Nghi Customs also has communicated and disseminated to businesses, and drivers to arrange a reasonable time to bring goods to the border gate to avoid congestion and affect clearance time, leading to increasing unnecessary costs.