Author: reporter Bi Zhenshan, PR China.
With the facilitation of border ports’ customs clearance and the growth of trade volume, the number of drivers engaging in cross-border transportation between China and Kazakhstan is growing day by day–
In early November in Horgos, Xinjiang, the sun is shining brightly and the breeze is blowing softly. It is still autumn in this vibrant land. At the Horgos Highway Port, a long queue of cars is waiting to enter and exit customs. Some cars are loaded with fruits and vegetables, some are transporting clothes and shoes, while some are caged trucks for new car transit…
Horgos means “the place where the camel train passes” in Mongolian, and “the place where wealth accumulates” in Kazakh. It was the hub of the Silk Road in ancient times. In recent years, with the continuous implementation of the “Belt and Road” projects and the advancement of the China-Central Asia community with a shared future, the trade volume between China and Central Asian countries has grown rapidly. A large number of personnel from China, Kazakhstan, and other Central Asian countries and Russia participate in this cross-border trade. Besides accumulating wealth for themselves, those border travelers who drive trucks and buses also become a link between China and foreign countries to promote prosperity.
On the Road to “Wealth Accumulation”
At 6 pm on November 7, in the freight yard of Horgos Jinyi International Trading (Group) Co., Ltd., Abu. Durexiti from Kazakhstan was waiting for the fruits to be loaded onto the truck. His home is located in Yarkent in Kazakhstan, only 30+ kilometers away from Horgos. For this transportation, he went out just after lunch and entered Horgos through the customs successfully in the afternoon.
“Vehicles transporting vegetables and fruits can get through the green channel, which is very fast to enter and exit customs. On the whole, currently, I arrive in China on the first day and deliver the goods back to Almaty the next day. The vegetables and fruits can still be kept fresh.” Abu. Durexiti told the reporter.
Almaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2.1 million, only more than 300 kilometers away from Horgos. On the road connecting the above two places, 27-year-old Abu. Durexiti has been driving cars for seven years.
Cross-border transportation for seven years has brought huge changes to his life. “With an income of 35,000 yuan per month, I bought a house and a car and even opened a restaurant for my wife. Without anything in need, I am very contented.” He told the reporter that the rapid development of China in the past seven years left him a deep impression. “Many of my daily necessities at home, including color TV, are purchased from China.”
Nowadays, under the influence of individuals like Abu. Durexiti, more and more people from Arkent drive trucks to China. Nislam, who traveled with Abu. Durexiti this time, only 25 years old this year, has already traveled through many ports such as Alashankou, Horgos, Durata, and even the farthermost Guangzhou in China.
“The Short Transition ” and “The Ferryman”
The customs clearance history of the Horgos Highway Port can be traced back to 1881. It is a national first-class highway port with the longest customs clearance history, the largest comprehensive transportation volume, the finest natural environment, and the most complete functions in western China. To build Horgos into an important fulcrum in the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, Horgos has established the Economic Development Zone, the Comprehensive Bonded Zone, and the China-Kazakhstan Horgos International Border Cooperation Center in recent years.
For example, on August 15 this year, the Horgos Highway Port piloted a 7×24-hour operation mode. In October, Horgos successfully implemented the “classified customs clearance” model of exporting trucks on one day and outputting complete vehicles on another day. Meanwhile, Horgos has also accelerated the construction of “a smart port”, which achieved full coverage of “green channels” for rapid customs clearance of agricultural and sideline products.
Driven by these favorable policies, the trade volume of Horgos has appeared a blowout type growth. From January to September this year, the freight volume cleared at the Horgos Highway Port reached 1.359 million tons, increasing by 115.3% over last year; 85,000 complete vehicles were exported, increasing by 150.5% over last year.
This provides new opportunities for long-distance freight drivers such as Abu. Durexiti, and also nurtures a group of drivers who specialize in short-distance transportation. Islam from Kazakhstan is one of them. As a construction worker, he heard that it was profitable to run short-distance transportation between China and Kazakhstan about six months ago, so he joined this business. Currently, he is employed by a Kazakhstan company, responsible for driving the empty truck from Kazakhstan to Horgos to pick up the goods, and then driving the full truck back to the customs supervision warehouse in Kazakhstan, where the company will deliver these goods to markets all over Kazakhstan. This kind of work is vividly described as “the Short Transition “.
Islam told the reporter that this”Short Transition” job is not tiring because most of the time is spent waiting to enter or exit customs, and the income is considerable. He can make three round trips per month, earning more than 1,000 yuan per round trip, plus a daily subsidy of 300 yuan.
In just five or six months, Islam quickly fell in love with this job. He told the reporter that China Customs was highly efficient, which built his confidence about the future. “I expect to save enough money to buy a truck of my own as soon as possible so that my income will be higher than ever before.”
Similar to the “Short Transition “, Horgos also has a group of drivers called “ferrymen”. Generally, their work is to drive a new vehicle to be exported from the whole vehicle export company in Horgos, go abroad through the Horgos Highway Port, park the vehicle at a supervision warehouse designated by Kazakhstan, and then return to China by car. The Kazakhstan supervision warehouse is only several kilometers away from the border, so one can make a round trip in one day. According to a”Ferryman” named Liu Chunlei, one can earn about RMB 400 to 600 by driving a car abroad. “If one drives a cage truck to transport multiple vehicles at one time, the income will be even higher.”
Promising Economic and Trade Exchanges
Besides freight transport, international passenger transportation volume has also increased significantly at the Horgos Highway Port. According to the statistics from the Entry-Exit Border Inspection Station of Horgos, in the first half of this year, the number of persons entering and exiting this port exceeded 230,000, with an increase of 154% over the same period in 2019. Till November 10, the number of people entering and exiting the Port surpassed 550,000.
On November 10, the mutual visa exemption agreement between China and Kazakhstan officially came into effect. Horgos Port, Alashankou Port, Durata Port and other places embraced the first batch of international tourists after the agreement took effect. The international passenger line from Horgos to Almaty opening in just July this year has now become an important channel for personnel exchanges between China and Kazakhstan.
44-year-old Yibulai is an international long-distance bus driver. He has been running the route from Yining to Almaty via Horgos for a long time. In the past few years, he bought a house in Yining City with two lovely children, living a stress-free life.
On August 1, with the opening of the passenger transport service at Durata Port, Yibulai switched to work on this line. It takes five or six hours to travel the whole journey of approximately 400 kilometers from Yining to Almaty via Durlata. Yibulai said the current customs clearance efficiency at the port was very high, while the attitude of Kazakhstan border inspection customs towards the Chinese was “very amicable”, so the whole journey would be smooth. “Once when we stopped for dinner, the Kazakh passengers couldn’t communicate with the restaurant staff in Chinese, so I even translated for the passengers.”
At the first China-Central Asia Summit held in Xi’an in May this year, China signed more than 100 cooperation agreements with the five Central Asian countries. It is believed that the trade and personnel exchanges between China and Central Asian countries and even countries west of Central Asia will be more convenient than ever before shortly. The whistle of the “steel long dragon” would resemble the sound of camel bells in ancient times, witnessing the common prosperity between China and foreign countries.
Reference Source: Workers’ Daily (China) 2023-11-13