Cold chain trains travel through tropical rainforests, loaded with the fresh sweetness of Southeast Asia, heading towards Chinese dining tables. The China Laos Railway, an iron and steel silk road, is turning exotic fruit fragrance into a footnote to trade prosperity. When the innovative supervision of smart customs meets the constantly rising consumer demand, an efficient and safe fruit golden channel has already taken shape.

From the opening of the line to August 24, 2026, the total amount of fruit imported via the China Laos railway will exceed 600000 tons, and the value of goods will exceed 15 billion yuan. This golden channel operates efficiently, allowing Southeast Asian fruits to flow faster into the Chinese consumer market.

Rising demand and breaking through reforms

After the opening of the China Laos Railway, the demand for customs clearance of imported fruits continued to rise. Kunming Customs made great efforts to build a smart customs, and launched the pilot reform of "inspection and quarantine of import fruit destination of China Laos railway+new land sea channel in the west (rail rail combined transport)". In June 2025, the Mohan Railway Port will implement a pilot quarantine program for the transportation of Thai fresh coconuts through intermodal rail transportation; In January 2026, the pilot category will be expanded to include fresh bananas from Laos.

Innovation supervision simplifies inspection

In this mode, Kunming Customs Mengla Customs no longer conducts open box inspections on Thai fresh coconuts and Laotian fresh bananas at Mohan Port, only verifying the box and sealing status. After verification is completed, the goods are released and transferred directly to Chongqing. After the goods arrive in Chongqing, the enterprise shall handle the declaration and inspection and quarantine procedures with Chongqing Customs. Customs has established a whitelist system for overseas orchards and packaging factories, screening and dynamically updating enterprises with standardized management and no quarantine records of harmful organisms for storage. This not only speeds up customs clearance, but also ensures traceability of goods sources and product quality and safety. Keywords: China Laos Railway, imported fruits, Kunming Customs, rail rail intermodal transport

Logistics acceleration and trade gains

Relying on the iron iron cold chain transportation and a new regulatory mechanism, fresh bananas from Laos can be transported to Chongqing in less than 4 days and then distributed to various domestic markets, reducing logistics costs and better protecting the freshness of the fruits. Up to now, more than 2020 tons of Laos bananas have been imported by the China Laos Railway under this pilot mode.Editor/Gong Ziwei