"——! Toot" Every time he looked at the train slowly approaching in the morning mist, Geng Jianqiang's heart was always filled with indescribable excitement. This year is Geng Jianqiang's 28th year in Mohan, Yunnan, from the young "little Geng" to the calm "old Geng", after experiencing the rapid changes in Mohan, Geng Jianqiang has a lot to say.
Yunnan is a major channel and bridgehead open to South Asia, Southeast Asia and the India Ocean Rim region, and has maintained close economic and cultural exchanges with neighboring countries since ancient times. Located in the southernmost part of the southwestern border of the motherland and bordering Laos, Mohan Town was an important post station on the Southern Silk Road in history.
With the spring breeze of reform and opening up, in 1992, the State Council approved the opening of Mohan (highway) port to the outside world. In August 1996, 21-year-old Geng Jianqiang became a new customs officer at Mengla Customs, which belongs to Kunming Customs.
"I heard from the old-timers that when they first cleared the customs, it was relatively desolate, and public transportation was not convenient, and many customs officers could only return home for two or three months. In the first few years, there were relatively few import and export goods, only a few trucks cleared customs every day, and the inspection of goods was all manual, and turning over boxes and cabinets was time-consuming and laborious. Geng Jianqiang recalled.
In 2008, the Kunman Highway connecting Kunming, China and Bangkok, Thailand, was officially opened through Mohan, which is China's first international highway, pulling up the "economic and trade axis" between China, Laos and Thailand, and the import and export trade of Mohan Highway Port has expanded year after year. "In 1999, the volume of import and export goods under customs supervision was more than 40,000 tons, and by 2014 it exceeded 1.5 million tons, an increase of 37 times in 15 years. All kinds of special commodities shuttle through Mohan, very lively, and are vividly called 'dry wharf' by Chinese and old merchants. Geng Jianqiang said. According to statistics, by 2023, the volume of import and export goods under customs supervision will exceed 4.8 million tons. "Now the Mohan Highway Port has become the largest and most well-equipped highway port on the China-Laos border."
Ports are developing, and the means of customs supervision are also improving. In August 2022, Mohan (highway and railway) port became the first batch of pilot ports for the construction of smart ports in Yunnan Province. Continuously improve the whole-chain supervision system, promote the overall improvement of port functions, and achieve faster customs clearance efficiency, more accurate inspection, and higher supervision efficiency.
"Now our freight vehicle inspection and release time has been reduced from an average of 8 to 10 minutes in 2023 to 4 minutes, and the average daily customs clearance volume has increased from 360 to more than 900 vehicles." Geng Jianqiang said.
On November 13, 2015, as one of the landmark projects of the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Laos Railway held a signing ceremony.
In 2016, the construction of the China-Laos Railway began. "At that time, the China-Laos Railway construction materials and vehicles waiting for export supervision and inspection often filled the entire freight yard." Geng Jianqiang said, "Everyone is gearing up and fighting side by side, with the vision and expectation of the China-Laos Railway, everyone has the strength in their hearts, and they must roll up their sleeves and work hard to contribute to the construction of the China-Laos Railway." In order to ensure the efficient customs clearance of construction materials, the customs officers of Mengla Customs stuck to their posts, worked overtime, often under the high temperature of 40 °C, shuttled between the trucks in the inspection area, and the white salt crystals on the clothes were circled and circled, like a special "battle map".
On December 3, 2021, a "Friendship Road" across mountains and rivers was officially opened. "When I watched the 'Fuxing' and 'Lancang' EMUs on the screen start at the same time and move in the opposite direction, my eyes moistened. When I look back on the five years of construction, my heart is full of excitement and pride. In the days that followed, Geng Jianqiang took on the burden of the chief of the railway port supervision section of Mengla Customs, "The responsibility is heavy, and the sense of honor and mission is also stronger." ”
The opening of the China-Laos Railway means that Mohan has both a national first-class highway and railway port, and the former "dry wharf" has become a "new hub". With the Mohan Railway Port imported fruits, grains, chilled aquatic products designated supervision sites have been put into use, not only the high-quality agricultural and food products from neighboring countries can enter the Mohan Railway Port safely and quickly, but also domestic fresh fruits and vegetables, "new three", mechanical and electrical products have also taken this "golden route", and the import and export freight volume has grown rapidly. On the first anniversary of the opening of the China-Laos Railway, the import and export freight volume of the Mohan Railway Port reached 1.927 million tons, and by the end of 2023, the total volume has reached 5.973 million tons, an annual increase of more than two times.
The surge in cross-border freight transportation on the China-Laos Railway has put forward higher requirements for customs supervision services, and how to ensure the efficient circulation of goods while strictly controlling safety risks has become the biggest test faced by Geng Jianqiang and his colleagues. In order to do a good job in customs work, we must not only adhere to it, but also reform and innovate. Mengla Customs is brave to be the vanguard in serving the overall situation of national reform and development, adhering to the two-wheel drive of "reform + science and technology", taking the lead in carrying out research and exploration and technical preparation for railway import "advance declaration", implementing the reform of regulatory models such as "railway express", deepening various facilitation measures, and combining the application of intelligent supervision equipment such as H986 railway large container inspection equipment and nuclear radiation detection door, to achieve the unity of strict supervision and efficient customs clearance.
"Every day when we return to the dormitory after work, we will set off a study discussion in the yard, and we will often fight for how to improve a certain link, but as long as every discussion can have a little effect, even if it is late at night, we will not feel tired." Geng Jianqiang said.
After 2 minutes, the whole train completed H986 scanning, nuclear radiation detection, container mapping, and arrived at the customs supervision site, and the scanned images were clearly presented on the computer screenThe method of manual solution relies on intelligent means to lock the national security risk in advance, so that the container and vehicle body inspection can be completed within 1 hour after the entry declaration of imported goods is completed, which effectively improves the inspection efficiency and reduces the amount of inspection preparation operations such as transportation and loading and unloading. ”
The advantage is in the location, and the way out is in the open. As of September 16, 2024, in less than three years, the cumulative import and export of goods through the China-Laos Railway has exceeded 10 million tons, the categories of cross-border goods have expanded from more than 10 at the beginning of the opening to more than 3,000, and the average number of daily trains has grown from 2 at the beginning to 18 now. The China-Laos Railway is connected with the new land-sea corridor in the west and the China-Europe freight train, providing a more convenient and efficient logistics channel for connecting South Asia and Southeast Asia, and the Mohan Railway Port has also become the largest railway port connecting the mainland with ASEAN.
"Mohan is very small, walking along the main road of the town, ASEAN Avenue, and it doesn't take half a day to walk around. Mohan is also very large, it connects China with ASEAN and even the broader international market. Now, the Mohan-Boten Economic Cooperation Zone in Laos, China is under construction, and the influence and scope of Mohan will continue to expand, and the future can be expected! Geng Jianqiang is pleased to be a witness to Mohan's transformation from a border town to an open frontier.
Over the past 75 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland has continued to open up to the outside world, its foreign trade has accelerated its development, and a new pattern of high-level opening up is accelerating. On the land of Yunling, under the glorious light of the party, the people of all ethnic groups have developed with each passing day, and have written a magnificent chapter of unity, progress, prosperity and development. The import and export value of Yunnan has increased from US$50,000 in 1952 to US$36.77 billion in 2023, an increase of 735,000 times.
Rooted in the border and silently sticking to it, Geng Jianqiang has watched countless trucks and trains pass through the country, and the sound of the whistle tells the pride and pride in his heart.
Yunnan Net reporter Yang Zhihui correspondent Qian Chunyu Zhu Yongming