On the afternoon of May 29, the first international container train on the Guangdong – ASEAN route safely arrived at Dong Dang station and then went to Yen Vien station after finishing customs procedures for the goods.

Sinotrans Ship Operations Co., Ltd – China’s largest multimodal transport group handled this shipment at the Chinese side. The partner in charge of transporting the Vietnamese side is Ratraco.

The train, which consists of 41 carriages carrying 40 HC containers (high container, 40 feet) departed from Guangzhou – the capital of Guangdong province, China with the end point of the journey being Yen Vien station (Hanoi). Goods are mainly production materials, furniture, the total value is 94,400 USD (2.1 billion dong).

This is the first train that opens the transport route connecting the Greater Bay Area of ​​Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macao to ASEAN countries, according to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Thanh – Deputy General Director of Ratraco Company. On March 31, a container train with 41 carriages organized by Sinotrans departed from Hunan province (China) to Vietnam to open a railway transport route connecting areas along this route. From here, goods will be transported to other ASEAN countries such as Laos, Cambodia, etc.

Sinotrans representative said that this international freight train service is oriented to become an important channel to ensure the smooth global supply chain during the Covid-19 epidemic. In addition, this new rail transport service is expected to contribute to the development of the countries and regions along the “the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)”.

Opportunities for rail transport

Previously, the Vietnam Railways Corporation said that due to not only the traffic congestion between countries caused by the Covid-19 epidemic’s complicated developments, but the congestion of the Suez Canal as well, many shippers have sought rail transport. They find that it can transport large volumes, long distances, short time and less risk than that sea can. The cost of rail transport is also more reasonable, especially for items that need fast delivery time such as fresh fruits and seafood, or need high storage conditions such as electronic components.

According to Mr. Daesung Kim, Director of MTL Vietnam Co., Ltd – a Korean enterprise specializing in freight logistics from Vietnam to Europe by both rail and sea, although the freight cost of the two modes are similar, but the time to transport goods by Asia-Europe railway is less than half compared to sea.

“This advantage was the reason why we had moved about 20% of freight from sea to rail in 2020 and planned to increase it to 50% this year. We are planning to expand the market, transport for other businesses by the Asia-Europe railway,” said Mr. Daesung Kim.

Recently, many multinational transport corporations have come to study and negotiate to sign cooperation agreements on organizing international transport from Vietnam to China. Then, connecting to Asia – Europe trains to ease the congestion of Vietnamese exports to the world, forming a new multimodal transport route.

Seizing this opportunity, Mr. Tang Van Dung, Deputy Head of the Department of International Relations – Science and Technology of Vietnam Railways said, not only 2-way goods from Vietnam to China or transiting China to a third country. The railway industry is seeking and promoting the exploitation of goods from ASEAN countries such as Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, transiting Vietnam to a third country and vice versa by rail.

Therefore, in the first 4 months of 2021, the volume of international intermodal goods increased dramatically. The volume of goods transported through the two border gates of Lao Cai – Son Yeu and Dong Dang – Bang Tuong reached 336.7 thousand tons, equal to 122% over the same period in 2020. In which, 156.5 thousand tons were exported, equal to 115%; 180.2 thousand tons were imported, equal to 129%. Particularly, export containers reached 2,792 TEUs, import containers reached 1,140 TEUs; in which, the number of containers transiting China to Europe is 584 TEUs.