9 JAN 2024 · PROSPERITY
Shenzhen is accelerating the development of TIR transport corridors connecting China to Central Asia to facilitate growing trade volumes, slashing delivery times.
Following the successful launch of the Shenzhen (China) and Almaty (Kazakhstan) TIR route in 2023, a new route connecting Shenzhen to Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, has been activated by IRU member ZZHY.
A Chinese TIR truck, loaded with electronic products, started its 6,500-kilometre door-to-door journey from Shenzhen, exiting China via the Irkeshtam border crossing, travelling through Kyrgyzstan, before arriving at its destination in only seven days, rather than 20 days by road without TIR.
IRU Director of TIR and Transit Tatiana Rey-Bellet said, “The opening of this new route along the strategically important China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan corridor will help southern China’s manufacturing hub of Shenzhen to further enhance its connectivity with Central Asia.”
“Companies in Shenzhen will greatly benefit from the new trade route as well as the highly efficient, secure and door-to-door road transport made possible with TIR,” she added.
By making TIR operational from the southern inland city of Shenzhen, China’s leading trade hub and home to many technology businesses and trading companies, border procedures can be further simplified, cutting transit times and costs.
Uzbek hauliers are also exploring other trade routes to China. Three TIR trucks have successfully arrived in Foshan city in southern China after departing from Uzbekistan, travelling through Kazakhstan and inland China.
This increases the number of Chinese TIR operational inland cities to 14, offering more secure transport options that are over 80% faster and 50% cheaper.
