The land border crossing between Russia and China in the Primorsk region, in the Russian Far East, has been overwhelmed by traffic, leading to losses for crab companies in the region.
Located in the Russian city of Kraskino, which houses a border crossing to Hunchun in China, the border crossing holds great commercial value for the lucrative live crab market – in 2019, 40 percent of Russia’s live crab exports went through the border crossing.
But long delays there have resulted in crab mortalities and financial losses for exporters. The border crossing is dealing with long lines due to its capacity of just 250 vehicles a day – 50 coaches, 50 cars, and 150 trucks – compared to 650 trucks on Hunchun’s side of the crossing. Long lines tend to exist on the Russian side of the crossing throughout the year, but in late September the situation considerably worsened.
Far East Crab Catchers Association President Alexander Duplyakov said from 25 September to 10 October, nearly 20 vessels landed their catch in nearby ports.
“It’s about 1,000 MT, much of which is bound for China,” he told Fishnews media agency.
Much of that catch is routed through the border crossing, but during peak traffic wait times can be eight or nine days, Duplyakov said, adding that the long waits had consequences. Up to one-third of live crab shipments died in containers will waiting in the queue on some days.
The delay has caused issues on the Chinese side as well. In early October, authorities and businesses in Hunchun sent a letter to Primorye Governor Oleg Kozhmyako asking for assistance, local media reported. A similar letter was sent to the governor and other officials by the Far East Crab Catchers Association.
To try and ease the delays, the Russian Ministry of Transport ordered that working hours at the border be extended by three hours. But with even larger volumes of crab expected to be landed in November and December, generating even more traffic, exporters are hoping the government will do even more, such as accelerating a planned reconstruction of the Kraskino border crossing to add capacity there. The first phase of the reconstruction, due to be complete by 2022, is to enhance the daily capacity by 150 trucks, and the second phase, to be implemented through 2024, should enhance capacity to 650 trucks.
Photo courtesy of Kirill Skorobogatko/Shutterstock
