China declares Vladivostok an inner port

China’s General Customs Administration has declared Vladivostok a transit port for domestic trade, VPost reports, citing a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry representative in Vladivostok.

From now on, goods sent from one Chinese province to another will pass through Vladivostok without customs procedures.

The decision comes into effect on June 1 and will affect goods moving from China’s northeast to the south. Whereas before, goods were usually exported from Jilin Province, which borders the Russian Federation, to the opposite end of China, traveling 1,000 km to the ports of the Yellow Sea, now they can be transported only a few hundred kilometers to Vladivostok. There, the containers will be reloaded onto ships and sent to the recipient.

For China, the possibility of shortening the onshore part of the logistics route from the northeast to the south by five times is very important: the country has approved a strategic plan to revive industry in northeast China, which provides for a rapid increase in production. But it is not yet clear whether Vladivostok’s infrastructure can handle the increase in freight traffic, if it is noticeable enough, VPost sources in the transport industry say.

In September-December last year, traffic jams formed in Vladivostok, and ships had to wait two weeks for unloading. It is possible that traffic jams will reappear by autumn, the publication’s interlocutors say.