500 refrigerated cargo containers cause serious pollution at Mong Cai border gate

The People's Committee of Quang Ninh province has just issued an urgent dispatch requesting the province's functional branches to strictly handle businesses violating regulations on trading temporarily imported and re-exported frozen goods (TN-TX), which are causing serious pollution at Mong Cai border gate.

As reported, among the more than 4,700 TN-TX cargo containers currently stuck at the Quang Ninh border gate, 500 containers are frozen foods that have expired but still cannot be exported to China. This is a consequence that has been predicted about the risk of environmental pollution, the possibility of goods being diverted for domestic consumption, and even businesses have... "run away", leaving a burden on the locality.

The latest information from Mong Cai Customs shows that the cost of electricity for “insulation” waiting for re-export for each 40-feet container is up to 2.5 million VND/day. That is not to mention that the electricity supply for “insulation” only meets a very small part and can only be resolved in a rotating manner. However, this method is only available for shipments that are not waiting too long.

Quang Ninh police discovered temporary imported and re-exported goods in violation.

Meanwhile, at other border gates such as Hoanh Mo (Binh Lieu district), Bac Phong Sinh (Hai Ha district), due to insufficient electricity supply, goods are continuously being transferred to Mong Cai, causing an overload beyond the capacity to handle. What is very worrying is that most of these frozen goods have expired and are awaiting re-export (180 days). According to Decision 5737/QD-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, they are subject to confiscation and destruction.

Faced with the above situation, the phenomenon of cargo owners using the excuse of power shortage to request to "move goods" out of the location waiting for re-export is increasing, accompanied by signs of breaking seals, dismantling small-scale goods transported to China by trails or dispersing them for domestic consumption. This type of goods is not only chicken legs, wings; viscera of livestock and poultry but also foods and aquatic products of high economic value.

More dangerously, frozen goods have been dumped everywhere, especially in the Ka Long River, causing a strong foul smell everywhere. In addition, many containers have been seen leaking water and smelling strangely fishy - a sign of decomposed goods. In particular, the monitoring authorities have begun to have "difficulty" contacting some representatives of the owners of goods in the high-risk group. It is likely that these businesses, having lost hope of re-exporting, have evaded responsibility for handling and destroying them.

Faced with the above negative developments, on October 15, 2012, the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province was forced to issue an urgent dispatch No. 18/CD-UBND directing relevant sectors and localities to immediately implement urgent measures to protect the environment in the border gate area. The People's Committee of Mong Cai city is responsible for presiding over and coordinating with functional units to urgently organize inspections and strictly handle businesses that abandon or throw away goods.

Up to now, on October 16, the authorities of two localities: Quang Ninh and Hai Phong are still in a very difficult situation to deal with and handle the large amount of overdue goods in stock and still have to wait for specific and detailed instructions from the central ministries and branches.

According to CAND-M