TP - The transit train departing from Song Than station (Binh Duong) to China to a third country with simple procedures, shortening time, saving costs opens up new opportunities for import-export enterprises.
Goods passing through the border gate are exempt from post-inspection
The factory is located in Tay Ninh province. Instead of transporting goods by water or road as before, Hung Duy Import-Export, Trade and Service Company Limited chose to travel by rail on an international transit train at Song Than station (Binh Duong). The company representative said that the first export shipment from Song Than station to China was cassava starch, the type used for food.
Nearly 500 tons of goods of Hung Duy Import-Export, Trading and Service Company Limited were packed in 19 40-foot containers, transported to Song Than station, then to Yen Vien station (Hanoi). Here, the shipment continued to be transferred to a 1,400 mm gauge train to be transported to Dong Dang station (Lang Son) and processed for export to China. Although passing through many stations, the procedures were very quick, because the declaration was classified as green by the Automatic Data Processing System (VNACCS-VSIS) (exempt from detailed file checking, exempt from actual goods inspection and automatic customs clearance).
Operating in the agricultural sector in Binh Duong, Mr. Le Thanh Hai - Director of Hai Au Cargo Trading and Service Joint Stock Company said: “The advantage of transporting by rail is that goods are not impacted, damaged, and move on schedule without being delayed like other modes of transport. Goods transported by rail will go straight across the border, without being congested at the border gate like when transported by road in the past. With agricultural products, short storage time, traveling by rail is the most optimal solution to help reduce costs and increase profits for businesses”.
Meanwhile, Mr. Le Manh Ha - CEO of TBS Logistics Company (Binh Duong) shared that intermodal shipping opens up a new direction for goods to other countries. Normally, with a 40-foot refrigerated container, if traveling by water, the freight cost accounts for about 10% of the total product value, and by air it will be twice as high. Enterprises can open a declaration directly at Binh Duong Customs Department and Song Than station to send goods directly to other countries. This shortens the time, reducing about half of the transportation cost.
 |
The freight train from Song Than station to China Photo: HC |
As a unit operating railway transport from Vietnam to China and from China to third countries, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hung - Deputy General Director of Railway Transport and Trade Joint Stock Company (Ratraco) said that political conflicts in some countries have affected and disrupted the flow of goods. To overcome this, the company chose the solution of transporting goods from Vietnam to China via Kazakhstan to Türkiye via the Caspian Sea to Europe.
According to Mr. Hung, choosing the railway channel to export to China also opens up opportunities to boost exports to Central Asian and European countries through the intermodal railway. In particular, in the context of sea transport routes through the Red Sea facing many risks and escalating freight rates, diversifying shipping routes will help businesses minimize risks.
Two-way traffic of goods
 |
Loading goods onto train cars at Song Than station |
Some businesses are concerned that goods will be congested, as many units choose to transport by rail. Regarding this, Mr. Dang Sy Manh - Chairman of the Board of Members of Vietnam Railway Corporation said that Song Than station currently manages an area of about 20 hectares. The station has 17 tracks with a capacity of over 350 carriages and 5 warehouses. The station's loading and unloading capacity reaches 2,000 tons of cargo/day and night.
In the coming time, the Ministry of Transport will invest in upgrading Song Than station to reach the capacity of handling 3.5 million tons of goods per year. After the investment, intermodal trains departing from Song Than station will run directly to China, transiting to third countries and vice versa, instead of having to transfer at domestic stations as at present. Therefore, Song Than station is capable of handling large quantities of goods.
Director of Binh Duong Provincial Statistics Office Ngo Van Mit informed that in January 2024, Binh Duong's total import-export turnover reached 4.5 billion USD, of which exports reached 2.7 billion USD, an increase of 44% over the same period last year. Some major export items had high growth such as wood and wood products increased by 205.3%; iron and steel, iron and steel products increased by 162.3%; handbags, leather wallets, backpacks, hats, umbrellas increased by 161.2%; footwear of all kinds increased by 127.9%; textiles and garments increased by 126.4%.
Mr. Nguyen Tran Hieu - Director of Binh Duong Customs Department informed that the locality regularly has 3,483 enterprises exporting and importing with partners in 213 countries and territories. However, most of the export and import goods of enterprises in the area are transported by sea.
According to Mr. Hieu, putting Song Than station into service for transporting export and import goods will expand the options for businesses. After the Lunar New Year 2024, Song Than station will transport the first batch of agricultural products to Zhengzhou, Henan province (China) with 21 wagons; including 9 refrigerated containers carrying fruits and food. The time from Song Than station to Zhengzhou is expected to be 9-10 days and according to the plan, there will be 1 trip/week.
A representative of Vietnam Railways Corporation added that intermodal trains can transit China to go to some countries such as Russia, Europe (Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland...), Kazakhstan, Mongolia. The reason for only one train/week is because the import and export of goods by rail has just started, customers are gradually switching from other types of transport to rail. As demand increases, the railway industry will gradually increase the frequency of trains, aiming to run daily.
In the near future, Vietnam Railways Corporation will have a trial shipment of many different owners imported from China into the CFS - TBS Tan Van warehouse (Binh Duong General Port under the Binh Duong Provincial Customs Department). After that, depending on the situation and purpose of using imported raw materials, enterprises (owners) will register customs declarations according to the corresponding types (business, processing, manufacturing, exporting, etc.) to serve sustainable production, business and consumption.
Source
![[Photo] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs Government Conference with localities on economic growth](https://vstatic.vietnam.vn/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/2/21/f34583484f2643a2a2b72168a0d64baa)
Comment (0)