The leaders of Lang Son Provincial People’s Committee recently had a working session with a delegation from Vietnam Railways to discuss effective implementation of Dispatch No. 13/CD-TTg dated February 6, 2024 by the Prime Minister on enhancing logistics connectivity to promote the consumption and export of agricultural and aquatic products.
According to the report from the Management Board of Dong Dang Border Economic Zone – Lang Son Province, in recent years, import and export activities through the Dong Dang international railway station have not generated many types of goods. The main exported goods are iron ore, aluminum ingots, fine art wooden products, cassava starch, dragon fruit, dried pork skin, cooked chicken feet… The main imports are various types of steel, fire-resistant materials, melamine, pigskin, frozen chicken feet, frozen pig feet, chemicals…
The import and export turnover of goods through this border gate has experienced significant growth. Specifically, in 2018, the total import and export turnover of goods through the Dong Dang international railway station reached USD 93.8 million, and by 2023, it reached USD 136 million, but much lower than the significant level of USD 289.5 million in 2022.
The reason for the high import and export turnover of goods through the Dong Dang international railway station in 2022 was due to the interruption of import and export activities through some border gates in Lang Son province as well as nationwide border policies.
Dong Dang Station is the last station of the Gia Lam (Hanoi) – Dong Dang railway line and is a crucial station connecting with the international intermodal railway line to Bang Tuong Station (China). This is an international intermodal station located in the Dong Dang – Lang Son Border Economic Zone, with an area of about 56,000 m2, including a central area, a station square, waiting rooms, railway tracks, a freight yard, with 10 tracks all of which have both 1,000mm and 1,435mm gauge and can accommodate trains of 1,000mm and 1,435mm gauges.
Information at the meeting showed that the quantity of goods imported and exported through the Dong Dang international railway station has been increasing from 2019 until now, but the amount of increase is uneven. The activities of transporting goods as well as import and export activities through the Dong Dang international railway station still have some limitations.
The main reason is that the infrastructure and establishment of storage, inspection, and monitoring of imported and exported goods have been constructed for many years and are now deteriorating, unable to meet the needs of trade and import and export activities. Along with that, the national railway network is inconsistent in track gauge, and the infrastructure of the station cannot accommodate large trains.
The road system connecting to the Dong Dang Station warehouse and yard has limitations regarding load capacity; cargo handling equipment is insufficient; the capacity of cargo handling and clearing train cars is slow…
Facing the difficulties, existing restrictions in international multimodal cargo transportation, as well as import and export activities through the Dong Dang international railway station, many proposals and solutions to promote the import and export volume of goods through the railway line have been discussed.
At the working session, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Railways hoped that Lang Son Province would implement some measures to support the corporation in effectively operating the Vietnam-China international intermodal transport line. It is noteworthy that policies supporting and propagating for enterprises to increase the import and export of goods via the railway line and transit through a third country will be issued.
At the same time, they will continue to work with Bằng Tường City, Guangxi, China to reach a consensus on the official import tax policy for agricultural and aquatic products through the railway line to attract transport companies and implement export activities via the railway.
Together with that, they will direct the relevant departments and the People’s Committees of Cao Loc District to expedite the progress of land clearance so that contractors can have the land to implement the Construction and Expansion Project, improving the capacity of Dong Dang Station…
The Vice Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People’s Committee basically agreed with the proposals and recommendations of Vietnam Railways and directed the Department of Industry and Trade to work with the relevant departments to propagate for enterprises to increase the use of the railway to conduct import and export activities.
The Management Board of Dong Dang Border Economic Zone – Lang Son Province will coordinate with the Provincial Customs Department to study and exchange with the functional agencies of Guangxi, China to review the official import tax rates for goods transported via the railway line; Cao Loc District People’s Committee will proactively implement solutions to expedite the progress of land clearance to provide contractors with land for project implementation, renovate, expand, and enhance the capacity of Dong Dang Station…
The provincial leaders also proposed that Vietnam Railways promptly upgrade and renovate the Hanoi – Dong Dang railway line to a high-speed railway line; continue to invest, renovate, upgrade, and complete the infrastructure of Dong Dang Station; invest synchronously in a system of refrigerated container cars to serve the transportation of agricultural products and fresh fruits…
The Ministry of Transport once proposed a plan to increase the capacity of international multimodal transportation to 3 million tons per year for the Hanoi – Dong Dang railway line by 2030.
