Cargo transportation resumes on Lancang-Mekong River

A cargo ship loaded with 226 metric tons of potatoes on Saturday departed from the Guanlei Port in Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province, and will finally arrive in Thailand, marking the resumption of international cargo transportation on the Lancang-Mekong River.

Since its first phase was put into operation in 1996, the import and export volume of the Guanlei Port has continued to increase.

In 2019, the import and export volume of the port achieved 544,000 tons valued $259 million (1.86 billion yuan), setting the highest record so far within the port.

With an annual average of 60,000 inbound and outbound passengers and 6,000 ships loaded with 270,000 tons of cargo, the port is the first port for the countries on the Indochina Peninsula and Southeast Asian to enter China via the Mekong River.

Approved by the State Council, it was upgraded as a national-level port in June 2020.

On April 1, 2020, the port was temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

In August, a working group of provincial-level exports gave an assessment to resume the cargo service at Guanlei Port in an order way after their professional inspection.

The port will strictly follow the measures of epidemic prevention and control to ensure the safe operation on the port.