The China - Mongolia - Russia freight road rally was held from 18 to 23 August and was intended to demonstrate the new possibilities of road transportation with China. The APS truck departed on August 18 from the port of Tianjin (a suburb of Beijing) in a solemn atmosphere with the participation of representatives of the ministries of transport and communications of the three countries and covered a distance of 2.2 thousand km within six days.
To date, freight transportation between the countries is only carried out within the framework of bilateral relations between adjacent territories through established checkpoints and along roads (routes) open for international road transport.
Thus, this doesn’t imply the entry of a cargo vehicle deep into the territory of China, the transportation of goods is only performed to the nearest settlements (terminals) to the border. The opening of a new economic corridor will make it possible to carry out transportation between China and Russia with transit of vehicles through the territory of Mongolia. An important advantage is the delivery term - just 4 days.
Dmitry Sukhanov, CEO of LLC Agens (APS brand):
“Participation in the rally for us is an indicator of trust in APS, as well as a vast experience of participation in similar international projects and huge opportunities that open up before us in the future. We are grateful for the opportunity to be among the first Russian carriers to cover this route. The rally turned out to be really important and useful for us, first of all from a practical point of view - all questions could be asked and solved literally on the go. We got acquainted with the road conditions, legislation of the countries participating in the rally, and we will use this experience for better planning of transportation in Mongolia and China.
Our company is already using part of this route - we haul from European countries to Mongolia. Many of our clients will be happy to use the road delivery service to China as soon as it is available. At the moment, many cargoes go from China with transshipment in Mongolia, then to Ulan-Ude, Irkutsk, and Krasnoyarsk, occasionally there are cargoes transported even further. Therefore, we have high hopes for the joint law unification groups.”
Dmitry Smirnov, APS driver: “Having traveled along the route, we made sure that delivery from the loading place in China to the unloading place in Russia can be carried out in 4 days, about 4 times faster than by rail. Highways in China are good, but also expensive: the amount of payment is influenced by the weight after weighing and mileage. Inland, the driver must not rest in the cab. Each gas station has a cafe and a hotel where the driver can relax, take a shower, and eat. It’s all about price. Payment is strictly in cash. Roads in Mongolia are not of high quality, although we often haul to this country. At the border, registration was held according to a simplified system, swift and without headache. This is because the Deputy Head of Rostransnadzor was in the booth (laughs).”
For the participation in the first international motor rally, LLC Agens, represented by its CEO Dmitry Sukhanov, was awarded a letter of thanks from Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation M.Y. Sokolov. Driver Dmitry Smirnov was awarded a letter of thanks from the Federal Service for Supervision of Transport.
We would like to thank the organizers and colleagues for this unique journey, which helps show transport potential of the three countries. We received great pleasure from the rally, got acquainted with the culture and peculiarities of the legislation of the countries participating there, and will be glad to offer our clients our services in these distant directions!