China-Laos Railway transports over 80,000 tons of fruits and vegetables

On September 14th at 12:29, Train No. 21018, carrying 16 refrigerated containers of fruits, arrived at the Mohan Railway Port in Yunnan. This marked the 205th batch of fruit cargo the China-Laos Railway transported since the opening of the first international cold-chain train on the China-Laos Railway. As of September 14th, the China-Laos Railway has transported a total of 82,000 tons of fruits and vegetables, including 66,000 tons of imported fruits and 16,000 tons of exported fruits and vegetables, with a total value exceeding 2 billion yuan.

In the past, fruits entering China through Mohan were mainly transported through a rail-road combined transport mode, entering China from the Mohan highway port, and then reloading onto trains for nationwide distribution after customs supervision. Since the designated supervision area for imported fruits at the Mohan railway port was put into use on December 3, 2022, tropical fruits from countries such as Thailand and Laos in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as Yunnan's pomegranates, yacon, and vegetables, have been quickly sold to domestic and international markets via the China-Laos Railway, enriching people's "fruit baskets" and "vegetable baskets."

From April to August, it is the peak season for importing fruits from Southeast Asia. With an abundance of tropical fruits such as durian and mangosteen entering the market, the China-Laos Railway sees a small peak in the import transportation of Southeast Asian fruits. Thai durians are transported to Kunming via the China-Laos Railway, reducing the transportation time from the previous 5 to 7 days to the current 3 days, achieving fast transportation of fruit. Compared with the traditional sea and road transportation routes, it spends less transportation time and greatly reduces costs, gaining popularity among customers.

Wang Jiancheng, the freight duty officer at the Mohan Station of the Pu'er Service Section of China Railway Kunming Group, introduced that after each batch of fruits enters the country, railway and customs departments actively coordinate and prepare for inspections. Once the inspections are completed, the railway department promptly proceeds with reloading, organizing, and dispatching to ensure that the fruits reach Kunming as quickly as possible, allowing consumers to enjoy fresh tropical fruits.

Meanwhile, in order to improve the efficiency of imported fruit transportation, the railway department, in collaboration with the customs department, continuously optimizes the procedures of transportation organization and the measures of customs inspection for imported fruits. Measures such as "green channels," "preliminary review of a single document," and "two-step declaration and summary taxation" are implemented to facilitate customs clearance, which ensures "inspection upon arrival, clearance upon verification," thereby reducing the time spent by imported fruits at the Mohan Railway Port.

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(Editors: Lexi, Christine)

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