The first departure of the China-Laos freight train service from Nantong to Vientiane South

Under the supervision of Nantong Customs, a subordinate of Nanjing Customs, a special train fully loaded with 70 standard containers of photovoltaic glass panels in 35 carriages slowly departed from the Haian Logistics Base in the Haian Commercial and Logistics Park. It will leave the country through the Mohan Railway Port in Yunnan, seamlessly connect with the China-Laos Railway, and directly reach the Vientiane South Station in Laos. The maiden voyage of this train marks that the cross-border railway freight line from Nantong to Laos has achieved full coverage of the core stations in the Vientiane area. "This batch of goods will be transported all the way south via the railway trunk line, and the estimated total transportation time is only about 7 days. Compared with traditional sea transportation, this railway line not only has regular departures and small fluctuations in timeliness, but also shortens the transportation time by nearly half. It can also effectively avoid uncertain factors such as sea storms and port congestion, effectively reducing the logistics costs and cargo damage risks of enterprises. Moreover, the freight cost is only about 20% of that of air transportation, offering high cost-effectiveness." said Qian Guanghong, the manager of Nantong International Freight Train Co., Ltd., which is responsible for the freight of this train. The operation of the "Nantong - Vientiane South" train helps Nantong further improve its level of opening up. Not only can Nantong enterprises radiate the entire Indochina Peninsula market through the Vientiane capital economic circle, further broadening the "land route" for local products to go global, but it also adds new vitality to the economic and trade cooperation between the Yangtze River Delta region and the countries in the Indochina Peninsula. To ensure the smooth operation of the train, Nantong Customs strengthened communication and coordination with local governments, railways, train companies and other entities, sharing information such as customs inspection and release notices and railway logistics status; vigorously promoted the "railway rapid customs clearance" business model at the port, successfully carried out the business of merging railway waybills, saving customs clearance costs for enterprises; and established a "green channel" for customs declaration, inspection and loading, achieving "one-stop" rapid customs clearance while ensuring safety supervision.