Opinions & Interviews
Belarus’ competitive edge for transportation by road to China noted
MINSK, 30 May (BelTA) – Belarus has serious competitive advantages for developing international transportation by road to China. The statement was made by Dmitry Cheltsov, head of the permanent representative office in Eurasia of the International Road Transport Union (IRU), at a business forum in Minsk, BelTA has learned.
The expert noted that Belarus is rightfully identified as a leader of the international automobile transportation market not only in the Eurasian Economic Union but also in the entire Eurasian space. “The advantageous geographical position at a crossroads of many routes that connect the Baltic states with the Black Sea region, Asia with Europe allows Belarusian transport companies to actively penetrate new markets and not only in neighboring countries. China is one of those promising markets for Belarusian forwarding companies,” Dmitry Cheltsov believes.
Commercial trucking to carry freight from China to Eastern and Western Europe was implemented comparatively a short time ago – about one year ago when China officially announced the launch of the full-scale TIR system’s operation in its territory. Russia and China also signed an agreement, which allowed Russian companies to start commercial transportation of freight from interior parts of China to the European part of Russia in early 2019. There are prospects of freight transportation to European countries, too. Cargoes are already transported by road to Turkey and European Union countries.
The governments of Belarus and China signed a similar agreement during a Belt and Road forum in Beijing in April 2019. “One can hardly overestimate the importance of this document. China had never signed such agreements with a country it does not have a common border with,” the expert stressed. Dmitry Cheltsov believes freight delivery to China and backwards is a promising business avenue for Belarusian truckers. “Experts believe that freight transportation by road is 3.5 times faster than by sea and 1.5 times faster than by rail while the costs are comparable,” Dmitry Cheltsov added. Moreover, Belarusian truckers have an advantage because they can enter China without visas. Besides, there are huge prospects for using opportunities of the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone as a logistics hub.
Dmitry Cheltsov is convinced: “Belarus’ geographic location is of strategic importance for the development of international bilateral and transcontinental transportation.”
The business forum Road Transport Business: Reboot 4.0 has been organized by the association of international road carriers BAMAP and is timed to a general meeting of the association’s members. Experts in the area of transport services gathered in Minsk to discuss problems and prospects of the industry’s development, in particular, the use of multimodal shipment schemes and transport corridors, applications for electronic documents and seals, digital technologies for tracking cargoes.
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