THe Exchange of Road Traffic Rights and transport routes opened between PRC and Viet Nam in August 2012. The opening of the 1,300km route allows trucks and buses from PRC and Viet Nam to travel into each other’s territories from Kunming–Hanoi–Haiphong and Hanoi–Yuyi–Nanning–Shenzhen. An Operations Manual (LINK TO OPERATIONS MANUAL?) has been developed for transport operators and truck drivers. This Operations Manual includes documents on bilateral transport, relevant laws and regulations, samples of permits, procedures for applying for permits, tax and duties, road safety, road signals, detailed local road maps indicating gas stations and rest areas.
There has been an increase in the number of bus and truck quotas between the PRC and Lao PDR. Both have agreed to increase their quotas by 50 per cent for busses (up to 20,000) and 25 per cent (up to 20,000) for trucks beginning in 2013.
No detailed analysis was undertaken of overall trade for the PRC because only Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are included within the GMS initiative and data by province is not readily available or reliable. Neither area is considered to be a significant trade generator compared to the eastern seaboard or the Pearl River Delta industrial conurbations. Most of these areas consist of mountainous terrain, and the low volumes of trade crossing between these GMS areas and Viet Nam, Lao PDR and Myanmar relative to the total trade between these countries tend to confirm this perception. The key trade corridor in the GMS area of the PRC is expected to be the internal sections of the Northern Corridor between Kunming and Nanning, and connecting southward to Fangcheng Port. More research is needed to establish how trade-oriented these two provinces are, and identify the origins and destinations of such traffic in a GMS context. The Northern and North-South Corridors have been identified as important land routes, especially for fruit and vegetable traffic between Kunming and Myanmar, and between Kunming and Thailand.
Source: Transport and Logistics in the Greater Mekong Subregion, Technical Assistance Consultant’s Report [Final Report] 2012 [Link to Resources]
