The Chinese edition of South China Morning Post goes with the material Sidney Lang, which tells of the fraud detection scheme in the organization of railway cargo traffic from China to Europe: from Harbin to Moscow and Hamburg. This traffic was positioned by the President of the People's Republic of China as part of the development of the One Belt, One Road project..
To begin, it should be noted, that the South China Morning Post is an English language edition, headquartered in Hong Kong (territorially – China). It often contains materials of openly oppositional content..
This time the author refers to the data of the investigation, hosted by China Business Journal, which can no longer be called opposition. During the investigation, allegedly, cases identified, when most containers from China to European cities went empty. noted, that the goods were only in every 40-41st container. The authors of the study claim, that Chinese exporting firms used this option not so much for the actual transportation of goods to Europe, how much to receive subsidies from the state when entering the One Belt - One Road project. And the subsidies are huge.: about 50% at 2018 year and 40% in 2019. This does not include regional subsidies.. As a result, subsidies for only one 40-foot container range from 1000 to 5000 dollars. Removal of subsidies is expected in 2022 year, when the route will be, what is called, obkatan.
earlier it was reported, that the so-called test variants of container traffic on land routes to Europe have been completed, and now companies must load containers with goods for at least 90%. According to the China Railway, only 6% containers in 2018 year were "test" – empty - when shipped to Europe, and in the opposite direction, the percentage reached already 29. The authors of the investigation consider these figures to be underestimated..
noted, that it turned out to be more profitable for some Chinese manufacturers to “drive” half-empty trains to Europe through Russia, how to load them with goods. Fraud began to rise, leading to a sharp reduction in subsidies.
For reference:
The first high-speed rail link between China and Europe was launched in 2011 year from Chongqing to German Duisburg. This is a route of length 11 179 km, passing through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland. Since 59 mainland China from Harbin in the northeast to Shenzhen in the south opened a direct rail link between China and Europe – after Xi Jinping unveiled a plan to subsidize transportation.
But some manufacturers note, that from China to Europe (to Hamburg) cargo by rail goes to 20 day, and by sea 30 day, but by sea you can transfer more and in the end cheaper. So, at 2018 only 1,6% China-EU trade (in terms of merchandise) walked on the railroad, and about 90% – by sea.
If all this is so, then the organizers of cargo traffic, including Russian, need to work on speeding up the process of freight transportation, and Chinese – be careful with that, who receives subsidies.
