The International Road Transport System Assembly Center Has Landed in Xinjiang

On August 14th, the International Road Transport System (TIR) Assembly Center (Urumqi) was officially unveiled and put into operation. This is the second TIR Assembly Center certified by the International Road Transport Union (IRU) in China, marking another solid step for Xinjiang in the field of cross-border logistics.
TIR is a global cross-border freight clearance system based on United Nations conventions, which improves clearance efficiency, facilitates multilateral trade and international transportation, and ensures safety by simplifying clearance procedures. It covers multimodal transport such as road, rail, inland rivers, and sea transport, and covers more than 70 contracting countries worldwide.
On August 14th, the International Road Transport System (TIR) Assembly Center (Urumqi) was officially unveiled and put into operation. This is the second TIR Assembly Center certified by the International Road Transport Union (IRU) in China, marking another solid step for Xinjiang in the field of cross-border logistics.
In May this year, China's first TIR assembly center certified by the International Road Transport Union (IRU) landed in Kashgar, Xinjiang. The assembly center provides nationwide cargo distribution, warehousing and logistics services, and supporting cross-border transportation services. From here, TIR transportation can reach Central Asia, South Asia, the Caucasus, Türkiye and European countries. What is TIR Assembly Center? Why are TIR assembly centers concentrated in Xinjiang?
It is understood that TIR is a global cross-border freight clearance system based on the United Nations Convention, which improves clearance efficiency, promotes the facilitation and safety of multilateral trade and international transportation by simplifying clearance procedures. It covers multimodal transportation such as roads, railways, inland rivers, and sea transportation, and covers more than 70 contracting countries worldwide. China officially joined the TIR Convention in 2016 and implemented the TIR system in 2018.
As an important hub connecting the two major economic circles of Asia and Europe, Urumqi International Land Port Area fully leverages its advantages and plays an increasingly prominent role in "cargo collection, park construction, and industry clustering", forming a multi-point and multi-directional train operation mode.
Since the beginning of this year, the number of China Europe (Central Asia) trains originating from Urumqi International Land Port Area has continued to increase. Urumqi International Land Port Area has also vigorously promoted innovative measures such as the "territorial direct access" model, achieving optimized allocation of logistics resources and significantly improving transportation efficiency. Data shows that in the first half of the year, Urumqi International Land Port Area operated 709 China Europe (Central Asia) trains, accounting for 93.3% of the total number of trains operated in Xinjiang, a year-on-year increase of 7.1%. Among them, the "Tianshan" multimodal transport brand train is an innovative achievement after the unveiling of the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone. As of July 30th this year, the "Tianshan" train has successfully operated over 300 trains.
The establishment of the TIR Assembly Center (Urumqi) not only provides value-added services such as warehousing, distribution, and customs clearance, but also lays a solid foundation for the construction of the "Tianshan" multimodal transport brand system.
Si Junjiang, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Xinjiang International Land Port (Group) Co., Ltd., stated that TIR is an important part of the construction of the "Tianshan" multimodal transport brand system. The establishment of the assembly center is a powerful measure to promote the construction of the Xinjiang Pilot Free Trade Zone, which will further open up two-way "door-to-door" international road transportation and direct trade channels, and accelerate the formation of a trade and goods distribution center based locally and radiating to the surrounding areas.
The policy promotion of the customs department has made the agglomeration effect of commercial and logistics in the land port area more prominent. In recent years, Wuchang Customs, which is under the jurisdiction of Urumqi Customs, has continuously optimized the TIR transportation clearance process. It has successfully shipped the country's first "Cross border E-commerce (9610)+TIR" in Urumqi International Land Port Area, carried out international road transportation along the Asian Highway Network Line 4 (AH4) between China, Mongolia, and Russia, and provided direct TIR transit transportation from China to Kazakhstan and Russia. By continuously optimizing the TIR transportation clearance process, providing appointment clearance and business consulting services, it has attracted more foreign trade enterprises to engage in TIR import and export business in Urumqi. Lv Xuenong, member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of Wuchang Customs, stated that Wuchang Customs will take the landing of the assembly center in Urumqi as an opportunity, combine with the reform and innovation of Xinjiang Free Trade Zone, continuously optimize the TIR transportation clearance process, and continuously improve the level of cross-border trade facilitation and the overall shipping capacity of Urumqi Qilu Port Area.
At the TIR Assembly Center (Panju Assembly Center) in Kashgar, Xinjiang, staff are busy loading and unloading goods. Hardware and household appliances, daily necessities, clothing, shoes, hats, electronic products, and other goods are neatly classified by area, waiting for subsequent customs declaration and inspection. Wu Zhigang, the person in charge of Kashgar Panju Assembly Center, introduced that Kashgar is the "shortest freight route" from China to Europe and the Middle East. The establishment of the TIR Assembly Center in Kashgar values its location advantage of "five ports connecting eight countries and a route connecting Europe and Asia". Since its operation, more than 50 international cross-border transport vehicles have been shipped through the assembly center, of which more than 10 vehicles are TIR transport. The assembly center currently has more than 10 TIR truck partners from China and overseas, including 7 overseas TIR truck partners, covering countries such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Belarus, etc.
Dilnur Elken, the head of the Supervision Department of the Logistics Monitoring Department of Kashgar Customs, introduced that the landing of the TIR Assembly Center in Kashgar will attract people, vehicles, and goods from the domestic and international road transportation industry to gather in Kashgar, which is conducive to promoting cross-border trade facilitation and diversifying cross-border logistics transportation methods, effectively reducing international logistics transportation costs, transforming Kashgar's unique location advantages into development advantages, and injecting new vitality into the construction of the Kashgar area of the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone.
Compared with traditional transportation methods, TIR transportation achieves "door-to-door" transportation while effectively reducing transportation costs. Yang Xiaolong, Supply Chain Manager of Zhongshun E-commerce Xinjiang Co., Ltd., introduced that in the second quarter of this year, the company's use of TIR transportation increased by 15%, and at the end of June, it also opened air land intermodal transportation from Kashgar to Dubai. The use of TIR has improved transportation efficiency and significantly reduced customs clearance time, "said Yang Xiaolong. (Geng Dandan, Economic Daily reporter)