Before that, in the last few days of March and at the beginning of April, along National Highway 1A, near the Huu Nghi International Border Gate, many vehicles had to queue for customs clearance. This situation can potentially cause traffic accidents while increasing the waiting time for customs clearance and the cost of exporting goods for companies.
The reason for this congestion is: as it is currently at the beginning of the harvest season for agricultural products and fresh fruits from the Southern provinces, the amount of goods that pass through the customs checkpoints per day at the border gates of Lang Son province is recorded to be increasing.
At peak times, there were days with nearly 1,000 trucks (mainly agricultural products and fresh fruits) at the border gate waiting for customs clearance, while the customs clearance capacity could only meet half of this number. In addition, it is worth mentioning that many vehicles are going through customs clearance for the first time, so it takes longer than usual for them to be checked by customs.
According to the Director of the Sub-Department of Customs of Huu Nghi Border Gate, agricultural products and fresh fruits exported through the Huu Nghi International Border Gate to China consist mainly of durian, jackfruit, dragon fruit, chilli and lemon. According to statistics, as of April 7th, Huu Nghi Customs has received and processed over 13,000 customs declarations with a trade value of nearly $600 million.
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| Customs clearance at the Huu Nghi International Border Gate has returned to normal. |
Faced with the increasing demand for customs clearance of import and export goods, especially agricultural products and fresh fruits across the border between Vietnam and China, Lang Son Provincial People’s Committee and departments, branches and functional forces have held many discussions and talks with the leaders of departments, branches and functional forces of China to find appropriate solutions to improve customs clearance capacity, to handle the cargo congestion issue and to avoid affecting and damaging the economy for businesses of both sides.
As a result, after many attempts to negotiate at the meetings, the two sides of Lang Son and Guangxi have agreed to increase the daily customs clearance time of import and export goods at the border gate from 7 am to 7 pm (an increase of 1 hour). In particular, the functional forces of the two countries will organize separate lanes for vehicles with and without cargo.
Data from the Management Board of Dong Dang – Lang Son Border Gate Economic Zone shows that, by the end of April 8th, the amount of vehicles transporting goods waiting for customs clearance at the border gate area has decreased sharply compared to the previous days. Currently, only about 500 vehicles are waiting for customs clearance at border gate areas, including nearly 350 trucks carrying agricultural products.
It is predicted that from now until June and July, there will be a variety of fruits in the North and South in the harvest season. Therefore, to improve customs clearance capacity and avoid possible cargo congestion at the border gate, Huu Nghi Customs has proactively arranged for personnel to work through noon every day of the week to handle administrative procedures and provide import and export support services for enterprises and customs declarants. Besides, Huu Nghi Customs arranged for personnel to work from 7 am to 10 pm to handle customs procedures for enterprises.
However, for the solutions to be implemented as thoroughly as possible, Huu Nghi Customs has also widely informed organizations and individuals that are involved in import-export activities to proactively update information about goods at the border gate to have plans for assembling goods at the border gate for customs clearance to avoid the situation of delay and unnecessary costs.
In particular, Huu Nghi Customs has also recommended individuals, organizations, and enterprises make advanced rulings on import and export goods and strengthen the connection with Chinese partners to improve the efficiency of customs clearance during the day.
In addition, Huu Nghi Customs has also coordinated with the business companies that operate the wharf to arrange personnel, means of transport and equipment to serve the delivery of goods at any time of the day for enterprises with import and export goods.
Also, according to the Management Board of Dong Dang – Lang Son Border Gate, Lang Son Province’s Department of Industry and Trade has also requested associations and industries to notify businesses and shippers to quickly update information, plan to relax and reduce the number of vehicles coming to the border gates for customs clearance.
Along with the solution to recommend shippers and businesses, departments, branches, and functional forces are also consolidating interdisciplinary working groups to solve difficulties and obstacles at border gates to promptly receive information and feedback from enterprises, quickly solve arising problems to ensure meeting the needs of import-export enterprises of goods between Vietnam and China.