In the early morning, as the sky was just beginning to brighten, the wind at Alashankou remained chilly. Customs declarer Ibrahim Ababek is already sitting at his desk, skillfully organizing stacks of documents. Looking out the window at the large trucks leaving the country one after another, he calculated that in the first half of the year, the number of trucks represented by the company remained stable at around 300 per month, an increase of 35% compared to the same period last year. This busyness is a microcosm of the thriving vitality of this border port.

Since the beginning of this year, the Alashankou Port has fully utilized its dual channel advantages of "railway stability and highway speed", not only increasing the total freight volume, but also achieving a qualitative leap in customs clearance efficiency.

Improving the quality of railway channels

As the core node of the Eurasian Continental Bridge, the role of railway ports as the "main artery" is becoming increasingly prominent. In the first half of the year, the cumulative freight volume completed here was 9.69 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 17.5%. Relying on the construction of smart ports, the railway department has created an integrated supervision mode for people, vehicles, and goods, compressing the average time for trains to leave the country to less than half an hour and increasing the proportion of manifest advance transmission to 85%. The efficient circulation has attracted more trains to gather here. In the first half of the year, the number of China Europe (Central Asia) trains under customs supervision reached 4568, a year-on-year increase of 22.7%. The steel camel caravan worked day and night, consolidating the basic foundation for port development.

Speed up of highway channels

Compared to the bulk freight transportation by railway, highway ports have made great efforts in flexibility. In the first half of the year, the freight volume at highway ports reached 829000 tons, a significant increase of 51.3% year-on-year. Behind this astonishing growth rate is the resource integration and process reengineering of the multimodal transport center. By promoting appointment inspection and online declaration, combined with TIR transportation mode and 7 × 12 hour customs clearance guarantee, the customs clearance process at highway ports has been reduced by more than 80%. Especially for the green channel opened up for fresh agricultural and food products, fresh fruits and vegetables can be quickly placed on the tables of Central Asian countries. Data shows that in the first half of the year, the number of inbound and outbound vehicles reached 88000, a year-on-year increase of 44.3%, with a peak daily traffic volume of 741 vehicles.

Hub efficiency improvement

In order to cope with the continuously increasing freight flow, Alashankou Customs has embedded supervision into the entire logistics chain, continuously promoted the direct connection mode between highway ports and local areas, and opened up a one-stop processing channel. This kind of pre service not only allows enterprises to feel a tangible cost reduction, but also optimizes the trade category structure of the port. With the comprehensive release of cross-border logistics vitality, Alashankou, as a bridgehead for opening up to the west, is continuously upgrading its hub efficiency, injecting strong impetus into the stable growth of foreign trade.Editor/Yang Meiling