Hundreds of containers have been stuck at the Thanh Thủy International Border Gate in the northern province of Hà Giang during the past week due to slow Chinese customs clearance. -- VNA/VNS Photo Minh Tâm

HÀ GIANG (VNS) — Hundreds of containers have been stuck at the Thanh Thủy International Border Gate during the past week due to China’s slow customs work.

Yesterday morning, Vietnam News Agency’s correspondent saw nearly 300 containers stretching several kilometers lined up at the border gate, which is in Vị Xuyên District in the northern province of Hà Giang.

Most of the goods in the containers are agricultural products such as dragon fruit and maize from the southern provinces of Tiền Giang and Bình Thuận, cassavas and planks from the northern province of Tuyên Quang, Phú Thọ and Yên Bái.

Đỗ Viết Hợp, deputy director of the standing committee of the Hà Giang Province Economic Zone Management Board, said that it was the first time that hundreds of containers were stuck at the border.

The management board invited import-export enterprises to conferences to find ways to increase the efficiency of import-export work.

The board also worked with Chinese organisations to speed up the customs clearance process and create good conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to export their agricultural products quickly, said Hợp.

The container-jams started on Wednesday last week and no one knew when it would end, he said.

Several owners of the goods said that they used Thanh Thủy International Border Gate because export fees at the gate were much lower than at others. But the increasing number of containers at the gate had affected their businesses, they said.

About 100-120 containers arrive at the border gate each day, but only 50-60 complete customs clearance procedures.

It takes only 7-8 minutes to check a batch of goods at the border gate in Việt Nam, but it takes 15-20 minutes to check a batch of goods at the border gate in China. Some containers are stuck at the border for up to five days, which damages goods’ quality.

Thanh Thủy Border Gate opened in 2012 is an important import-export gate connecting China’s Yunnan Province and Việt Nam’s northern provinces and the East Sea. It also connects ASEAN countries with the Asia’s northern-east countries.

Last year, the total value of import-export goods of the province was US$215.46 million, an increase by 9.6 per cent compared with 2014. — VNS