Freight costs increase when passing through Nam Can Border Gate - Nghe An

Since last year, due to the epidemicCovid-19Due to complicated developments, Nam Can Border Gate strictly implemented epidemic prevention, in which all freight transport units crossing the two sides of the border were forced to transfer goods. Even drivers had to arrange 2 people on both sides of the border, which caused the cost of 1 shipment to increase significantly.

At the border gate, trucks must park to transfer goods. Photo: Tien Dong

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, an employee of a transport unit specializing in customs clearance procedures atNam Can Border Gatesaid. Before the pandemic, each truck ran straight from the starting point to the end point, so only one driver needed to be hired. Now, it is mandatory to hire two drivers, one on the Vietnamese side and one on duty in Laos. The number of drivers on the Lao side has also doubled due to difficulties returning to Vietnam. Previously, the salary for a driver was about 10 million VND, but now it has increased to 20 million VND, but it is still very difficult to recruit drivers.

After entering the transfer yard, goods from vehicles with Vietnamese license plates will be transferred to vehicles with Lao license plates. Photo: Tien Dong

Not to mention, every time we arrive at the border gate, we have to unload the goods, then transfer them to another vehicle. The cost of loading and unloading alone costs 4-5 million VND/trip, depending on the type of goods and the volume of loading and unloading. This has caused the cost of transporting a shipment during the epidemic season to increase by about 30% compared to normal days, not including the driver's salary.

Mr. Long, a coal truck driver through Nam Can Border Gate, was frustrated: Before, going straight was faster, from Vinh to Xieng Khouang took 7-8 hours, including customs clearance, but now because of the stop to load and unload goods, it takes a whole day. That's not counting if it rains and the goods cannot be unloaded, then we have to wait at the border gate.

Drivers waiting to load goods at the transfer yard. Photo: Tien Dong

According to records, due to the Covid-19 epidemic, in the first 5 months of 2021, only 56 enterprises participated in customs clearance procedures through Nam Can Border Gate, including 38 exporting enterprises and 18 importing enterprises, with a total of 5,257 vehicles. Import-export turnover only reached more than 14.2 million USD. The main items are construction materials, cereals, fertilizers, wood, ore, coal...