Solutions to open up trade flows through railways

Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh speak at the meeting. Photo: N.Linh

Attending the meeting were the representatives of the Customs Control and Supervision Department; representatives of Hanoi Customs Department; Bac Ninh Customs Department; Yen Vien International Intermodal Railway Station Customs Branch; representatives of the Vietnam Railway Corporation and representatives of related businesses.

At the meeting, Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh emphasized that improvement of the efficiency of railway exploitation had played an important role in removing bottlenecks for import and export goods, reducing cargo clearance time, and reducing congestion at the border gate.

Especially with the application of China’s “Zero Covid” policy, transporting import and export goods by rail was one of the optimal solutions. In the long run, freight forwarding by rail has a great advantage when there is a synchronization of common infrastructure standards.

However, to develop and take advantage of the opportunities, leaders of the General Department of Vietnam Customs believed that it needed the participation of relevant parties to implement.

“Changing the way to make the most of the existing platform. To fulfill that goal, it needs the determination of the units. Furthermore, leaders of the Ministry of Finance were very concerned in directing to open up trade flow through the railway starting from simplifying procedures,” Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh said.

The Deputy Director General also added that the results of the meeting and survey were the basis for the General Department of Vietnam Customs to report to the leaders of the Ministry of Finance, and together with the Ministry of Transport to agree on the report to the Government.

Representatives of businesses that have been transporting goods by rail said that rail transport had advantages in terms of quantity of goods, human resources, and cost over road and sea transportation. However, the enterprise proposed to increase investment in operating equipment for the exploitation and operation of loading cargo activities such as truck cranes, forklifts at Yen Vien station; researching and proposing solutions to speed up the handling and exploitation of containers at Yen Vien station; upgrading the capacity of Yen Vien Station to about 500 containers in order to meet the largest demand for freight rotation; or proposing solutions to increase the efficiency of railway exploitation in transporting export and import goods such as opening more import points in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang to reduce the load on Yen Vien station.

A representative of the Railway Corporation said that currently, the railway industry, as well as state management authorities, had paid attention to developing the railway industry, improving its role and efficiency.

At the meeting, the representatives had a meeting to discuss the recommendations of enterprises, such as strengthening investment in operating equipment to serve the operation of cargo loading activities such as truck cranes, forklifts, at Yen Vien station; solutions to speed up the handling and exploitation of containers at Yen Vien station; discuss the possibility of expanding the capacity of Yen Vien station to meet the needs of freight rotation.

At the same time, the stakeholders also studied solutions to increase competitiveness and increase productivity and efficiency in serving customers in the exploitation and operation of warehouses at the station; meeting to discuss solutions to increase the efficiency of railway operation in transporting export and import goods, such as opening more import points in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang to reduce the load on Yen Vien station.

Within the framework of the working day, the delegation also conduct a real survey of warehouses, gathering places for export and import goods at Yen Vien station, customs procedures, and goods released at the station; capacity of loading and unloading exported and imported goods of the station operators; conducting a real survey of warehouses and cargo gathering place at Kep station (Bac Giang); survey on the possibility of upgrading to an international intermodal terminal and carry out customs procedures, inspect and supervise import and export goods at the station.

The delegation conducts a survey at warehouses and storage yards at Kep Station (Bac Giang). Photo: N.Linh

Improving the capacity of loading cargo at Yen Vien Station is one of the requirements to increase the circulation of import and export goods. Photo: N.Linh