In early summer, the Manzhouli Outer Baikal border crossing between China and Russia is a bustling scene. As a key node of the China Mongolia Russia Economic Corridor and the core hub of the China Europe East Corridor, this area has convenient personnel exchanges, efficient logistics clearance, and a very hot atmosphere of economic and trade cooperation, becoming an important gateway for two-way exchanges between China and Russia.

More convenient personnel exchanges

At the entrance hall of Manzhouli Highway Port, passengers are orderly completing customs clearance procedures. Russian tourist Anna held her passport and completed the information verification through the intelligent checkpoint in just over ten seconds. It only takes 6 hours to come from Chita, and the passport can be directly cleared through customs, which is very convenient. "She said that since the trial of the China Russia visa free policy in 2025, the number of times a family comes to China for shopping and tourism has significantly increased. In the first quarter of 2026, the number of inbound and outbound passengers at the Manzhouli highway port reached 222000, a year-on-year increase of over 40%. The highest daily passenger flow exceeded 6400, and during the Russian spring break, the daily average number of inbound and outbound passengers also exceeded 5000.

At the exit hall of the Outer Baikal Highway Port, Chita citizen Victor Stolbov and his wife have just finished their trip to Manzhouli and are preparing to return to Russia. It's so convenient to travel now. After driving from Chita for a few hours, you can leave your car at the border port and play for three days before picking it up and going home. The construction of the smart port has accelerated the efficient clearance process. The Manzhouli highway port has not only upgraded its intelligent inspection facilities, but also expanded the travel inspection channel from 6 in and 6 out to 12 in and 12 out. The smart health inspection channel integrates functions such as temperature monitoring, reducing clearance time by more than 10% compared to the past. Hu Yingbin, Deputy Director of Manzhouli Port Office, said that the visa free policy combined with smart customs clearance has made it more convenient for people from both countries to travel. Nowadays, Russian tourists can be seen everywhere in shops, restaurants, and pedestrian streets in Manzhouli, and many merchants also smoothly carry out cross-border business with proficient Russian.

Efficient logistics transportation

In the container yard of Manzhouli Railway Port, machines roar and six gantry cranes operate in an orderly manner, accurately grasping various types of containers. We implement a non-stop mode of personnel rest and equipment, which allows us to load 12 trains and over 600 boxes of goods in a day and night. On average, we can complete the replacement of one train every 2 hours, achieving zero waiting for receiving, replacing, and departing. "Yang Liang, a cargo loading duty officer who has worked in the freight workshop of Manzhouli Station for more than ten years, witnessed the leapfrog development of the China Europe freight train from one train per few days to more than ten trains per day. As an important hub connecting the Trans Siberian Railway in Russia, the Manzhouli Railway Port undertakes more than 60% of the railway transportation tasks for Sino Russian trade, with an annual replacement capacity of 40 million tons. There are 63 China Europe freight train lines passing through it. Since 2026, the number of China Europe freight trains entering and leaving the country through this port has increased by more than 20% year-on-year.

Freight transportation at highway ports is also busy, and the cargo inspection area of Manzhouli Highway Port has implemented 24-hour customs clearance trial operation for 6 in and 6 out channels. In recent years, the clearance time for freight has been continuously shortened, and our company's order volume has been increasing year by year. Our business has also expanded from department stores to mechanical equipment, covering Moscow, Irkutsk and other places. This year, we plan to add 100 new transport vehicles, "said Zhang Weili, General Manager of Inner Mongolia Letai International Logistics Co., Ltd. At the Outer Baikal Highway Port, truck driver Chai Yan also stated that customs clearance is now very convenient, and the company's freight volume continues to increase, with drivers traveling back and forth much more frequently than before. In addition, cross-border e-commerce trade between China and Russia has become a new highlight in recent years. Trucks loaded with e-commerce packages gather from Shenzhen, Yiwu and other places to border ports such as Manzhouli, and then send them to various parts of Russia. In the first quarter of 2026, the cross-border e-commerce trade volume of Manzhouli City will exceed 1.3 billion yuan, surpassing the total cross-border e-commerce trade volume of the local area in 2025.

Fruit and vegetable trade promotes win-win situation

At the Senfu International Logistics Park in Manzhouli, boxes of carefully selected Shandong cabbage, Yunnan pomegranate, and Shanxi apple are packed and transported by cold chain trucks to the Russian market. This batch of fruits and vegetables will be transported via cold chain throughout the entire process, taking only half a day to Chita and about 9 to 10 days to Moscow, "said Sun Zhe, the business manager of Inner Mongolia Jinshengbo Trading, pointing to the truck. In the first quarter of 2026, the company exported 1000 tons of vegetables, a year-on-year increase of nearly 40%. Chinese fruits and vegetables are highly favored by Russian consumers due to their excellent quality and complete product categories, and Manzhouli Port is also one of the ports with the largest export volume of fruits and vegetables from China to Russia. A company has set up a fruit and vegetable distribution center in Irkutsk, radiating to more than 20 provinces and regions in Russia, which can deliver Chinese fruits and vegetables to cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the first quarter of 2026, Manzhouli Port exported 95000 tons of fruits and vegetables with a value of 710 million yuan, an increase of 3.8% and 0.4% year-on-year, respectively.

The facilitation of customs clearance provides a safeguard for the export of fresh products. Manzhouli Airport Customs has established a green channel for fruits and vegetables, established a 5+2 appointment inspection mechanism, promoted the cloud issuance of inspection and quarantine certificates, and achieved intelligent auditing and self-service printing, allowing fresh and perishable agricultural products to be inspected and released quickly upon arrival. Previously, I was worried about the decay of fruits and vegetables, but now I declare and schedule inspections in advance, which greatly reduces losses and speeds up the turnover of goods. "Sun Zhe said that the advantages of close and fast ports have continuously enhanced the competitiveness of Chinese fruits and vegetables in the Russian market. Keywords: Manzhouli Port, China Russia Cooperation, Logistics Transportation

The booming export of fruits and vegetables is a vivid reflection of the complementary and mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia. Russia's resource-based products such as timber, minerals, and fertilizers continue to enter the country, while China's high-quality commodities such as chemicals, building materials, machinery and equipment, daily necessities, fruits and vegetables are efficiently exported. The two-way trade structure between the two sides is constantly optimized. Pavel Volkov, Acting Vice Chairman of the Government of the Outer Baikal Territory of Russia, stated that the region's annual trade volume with China is about 1 billion US dollars, mainly exporting minerals and agricultural products, importing machinery and equipment, and upgrading ports to further deepen cooperation between the two sides. Currently, the two sides are expanding cooperation in agriculture, investment, and other fields, sharing development opportunities.Editor/Gong Ziwei