CUSTOMS of Manzhouli, a the Chinese city on the Russian border, has signed an agreement with Nanjing Customs to simplify clearance to railway cargo from Suzhou to Europe.
Yangtze River Delta shippers in the Suzhou area and surrounding region are now able to manifest their shipments once at the local customs station with re-manifesting at Russian border.
Experts said the cooperation will improve efficiency of the Suzhou-Manzhouli-Europe railway cargo service, helping shippers to save both time and money.
Suzhou-Manzhouli-Europe cargo railway service was launched in November 2012. The route starts off from eastern China city Suzhou, traverses Siberia and ends at Poland, covering a distance of over 11,000 kilometres. Travel time lasts about 18 days, nearly twice as fast as ocean shipping.
The service has moved more than 2,000 batches of shipments on non-scheduled services since operation.
Suzhou's exports to Europe valued US$37.6 billion in 2012. Germany, Netherlands, UK and Poland are the major markets of its exports.