HCMC – As China has tightened its anti-Covid measures, some 4,000 container trucks carrying agricultural products have been stuck at border gates in the northern province of Lang Son and 1,500 others at the Mong Cai Border Gate in Quang Ninh Province.
Nguyen Dinh Dai, director of the Lang Son Department of Industry and Trade, said the 4,000 container trucks had been stranded at the Chi Ma, Tan Thanh and Huu Nghi border gates in Lang Son, news site VnExpress reported.
Around 700 container trucks are stranded at the Chi Ma Border Gate, but only 60 to 80 trucks have completed customs clearance procedures per day.
China has stopped customs clearance for three days to review the development of the pandemic. As the new Covid-19 caseload in Vietnam has risen, China has tightened its control over imports from Vietnam, Dai added.
Meanwhile, more than 2,000 trucks have yet to go through the Tan Thanh Border Gate. Some 200 have got clearance per day instead of 300 as earlier.
About 1,000 trucks have been stranded at the Huu Nghi Border Gate.
Earlier, the highest number of container trucks stranded at border gates in the province had been some 1,000. As China issued stricter anti-pandemic measures, container trucks could not go through some border gates in Lao Cai and Quang Ninh provinces, so they flocked to border gates in Lang Son.
These container trucks mainly transport fruits from the central and southern regions. It normally takes 10 days to complete customs clearance.
The Lang Son government has informed haulage enterprises and drivers of the situation, but container trucks have still flocked to border gates in the province, Dai said, adding that this was a complex issue as the province’s customs clearance capacity was limited while the cargo volume was huge.
At the Mong Cai Border Gate in Quang Ninh, it takes 15-20 minutes to complete customs clearance procedures for a container truck instead of five to ten minutes as earlier, said a leader of the customs branch at the border gate.
Container trucks stuck there mainly transport agricultural products and seafood. Each truck must wait for five to seven days to complete customs clearance procedures.
In August, many trucks transporting farm produce were stranded in the northern provinces of Lang Son, Lao Cai and Quang Ninh as China tightened control over imports and disinfected vehicles and imports from Vietnam. It also tightened control over the traceability of products, prolonging the customs clearance time.
