In the morning, the wind on the Gobi is still cool, and there are long queues outside the Khorgos Highway Port. The drivers were wrapped in cotton coats and waiting in the cab, while some simply got off the car and stomped their feet to keep warm. Nuerzhuo and Khorgos are facing each other across the border, connecting the production line of Chinese factories at one end and the markets in Central Asia and Europe at the other. The lane is getting wider and wider as it is repaired, and the traffic flow is also increasing faster. However, the matter of customs clearance is still often calculated on a weekly basis.

Thirty days and one day

At present, it takes 20 to 30 days for vehicles to pass through Nuerzhule and Khorgos. Not all obstacles are on the road. The two customs systems each speak their own words, the databases are not interconnected, the accounting methods are inconsistent, and even the commuting schedules are mistakenly recorded. The information of a car needs to be repeatedly registered and verified in two systems, and time is gradually consumed.

The idea of the new system is very direct: to connect the customs systems of the two countries. The project was developed with the support of the governments of Kazakhstan and China, and the China Customs Data Processing Center provided support for project information security. Once connected, the process of repeated declaration and queuing verification will be significantly compressed. With the help of the new system and supporting transportation routes, the customs clearance time is planned to be shortened to one day.

Millions of dollars go first

Spend money on the blade first. An initial investment of 10 million US dollars will be made for the construction and launch of the new system. This money is not huge, but it has leveraged a channel with an annual clearance volume of 100000 vehicles.

Larger investments are at the back: the next step is to invest an additional $200 million to build storage facilities and new roads. No matter how fast the software runs, it still needs hardware support to keep up with the storage and road network, so that the acceleration will not get stuck at the end.

The park captures the dividends

Only when the channel is smooth will business change accordingly. The goal of the first phase of the project is to increase the automobile trade volume between Kazakhstan and China by 30% this year; After the new storage facilities and road infrastructure are put into use, the plan is to double this indicator again.

The industry has begun to gather towards the shore. The company is also collaborating with the Jeter Suzhou government to promote the industrial park project. With the upgraded logistics and digital system, the park will focus on introducing high-tech enterprises, including automotive parts production enterprises, assembly enterprises, as well as enterprises engaged in drone and robot technology research and development. Enterprises entering the park will receive comprehensive logistics infrastructure and related services, and can obtain financial support through the logistics network.

Khorgos is the largest land port for automobile export in China, and the market share of Chinese brand automobiles in Kazakhstan has increased year by year. The smoother the channel, the closer the industry, from clearance to landing, there is no longer a month of waiting in between.Editor/Yang Meiling