June 6 2023
On June 1, Vladivostok, one of the largest Russian ports on the Pacific Ocean, opened for cross-border transit traffic of Chinese goods. According to Global Times, the new route will make logistics more profitable, and will also benefit the economies of both Northeast China and the Russian Far East. The ‘Zhoushan Yongzhou’ container terminal and the Jiaxing Zhapu port in the Chinese province of Zhejiang were nominated as entry points for transportation.
Vladivostok is not the only transit port through which the PRC transports its goods. “Currently, there are 13 trade routes via Russia that operate mostly on a weekly basis, and they are all very busy,” a terminal employee in Zhejiang was quoted as saying. For example, in 2020, the seaport of Slavyanka and the Kraskino border crossing point were included as transshipment ports for cross-border transportation of domestic trade goods in Jilin Province.
According to the source, many freight forwarders are interested in sending their cargo through Vladivostok and are already adjusting existing routes. The publication clarifies that the economic and commercial development of Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, adjacent to Primorye, is hampered due to lack of access to the sea. According to Mr. Kang Shuchun, director of the China Federation of Logistics and Procurement, the fastest and most frequently used transportation route within Chinese territory passes through Dalian in Liaoning province which is more than a thousand kilometers away from Jilin and Heilongjiang. The distance between Suifenhe and Hunchun to Vladivostok is about 200 kilometers. Therefore, delivery from Hunchun to the ‘Zhoushan Yongzhou’ terminal via Vladivostok will cost at least 2,000 yuan ($281) cheaper per one TEU.
According to an industry expert, the new route will also allow exporting more goods produced in Northeast China at competitive prices to the domestic market, the Republic of Korea, Japan and even Southeast Asia.
Earlier, “RBC Primorye” reported that the PRC Customs administration included Vladivostok in the list of ports through which cargo can be delivered in transit from the northern regions of China to the southern ones. This was done to expand the scale of cross-border activities, as well as offload logistics routes within the country.
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