Traffic bottlenecks cited, related to restrictions to control COVID-19 spread.
- Railway traffic from China to Europe via the border crossings of both Alashankou and Erenhot has been halted.
- China Railways has released an official mandate to stop the loading of outgoing trains via these border crossings, starting on Monday 25 October. The ban will be in place for until 1 November for Alashankou and until 28 October for Erenhot.
More detail is here at the report.
Under the strict restrictions, the flow of goods across the border has come to a standstill, with roughly 150 goods trains and 7,000 wagons currently waiting to cross the border and another hundred trains and 5,000 wagons delayed en route. It is not only transit cargo from China that is affected. Japanese and Korean shippers are also facing problems losing out on the extra transit time.
