A cargo train carrying a total of 150 tons of dragon fruit from Vietnam arrived at Pingxiang Railway Port on Feb 25, marking the first time that imported fruit entered China through a railway port.

It also marked the first time that Vietnamese fruit has entered Guangxi since Pingxiang Railway Port qualified as a designated supervision venue for imported fruit.

Located in Pingxiang, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Pingxiang Railway Port is a first-class international port that connects China Railway and Vietnam Railway. It is also an important node for the import and export of southern railways of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.

In recent years, Pingxiang has developed the border fruit trade with several ports in the city. In 2019, 730,000 tons of fruit products were imported, which has been the largest road port for the China-ASEAN fruit trade import and export for many years.

In order to promote the expansion of the import and export of fruit between China and ASEAN, as well as to accelerate the development of the Land-Sea Trade Corridor, Pingxiang Customs and local government established Pingxiang Railway Port and made it a designated supervision venue for imported fruits in February 2020.

Pingxiang Customs officers check the first freight train loaded with imported dragon fruit from Vietnam. [Photo by Jiang Quan/chinanews.com]

According to Shi Fuhai, director of the Nanning railway bureau's Chongzuo branch, the development of railway transportation in China and Vietnam has made the cost of fruit customs clearance better than that of roads.

"Railway transportation shows great advantages during the current epidemic prevention and control period as it can reduce personnel contact and ensure the rapid customs clearance of goods," said Li Donghui, deputy manager of the Pingxiang branch of Guangxi Nanning Railway International Logistics Co.

Pingxiang Customs Commissioner Peng Cheng said that the supervision service will be further optimized to promote more Southeast Asian fruits entering markets across China by rail transport.

In the future, Pingxiang will promote the connection between the railway port and China-Europe trains, as well as further implement measures to promote stable growth in foreign trade to help Pingxiang accelerate the construction of international port cities for ASEAN countries.

Customs officers are inspecting imported fruit at Pingxiang Railway Port. [Photo by Jiang Quan/chinanews.com]