April 15, 2026 | 10:58 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The China-Laos railway serves as a "golden route" for tropical fruit commodities from Southeast Asian countries to enter Beijing. As the peak harvest season for durian approaches, the railway service leverages its logistical efficiency to help the fruit—including from Thailand, Laos, and Malaysia—reach the Chinese market.
This month, the Lancang-Mekong Express freight train on the China-Laos Railway, carrying fresh durian from Thailand, arrives every morning in Kunming, the capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, after completing the cross-border journey in just 26 hours.
In addition to the portion destined for the local market in Yunnan, the majority of these durians reach more than 30 cities in China, including Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, and Shenyang, within 48 hours via seamless rail-road intermodal transport.
This ensures that consumers across China can enjoy fresh Thai durian with minimal waiting time.
Recently, Thailand exported 1,500 containers of refrigerated durian to China daily. Tropical fruits from Southeast Asia, including durian and mangosteen, are transported via the China-Laos Railway, which offers fast customs clearance, short transit times, and low product damage rates.
This freight volume is expected to peak in mid- to late April, according to China Railway Kunming Group, as quoted from Xinhua.
To meet the surge in demand during the peak selling season, the railway authorities of China and Laos have increased the frequency of Lancang-Mekong Express freight trains from two to six trips daily.
"We have opened a 'green channel' for durian transport, prioritizing unloading, transshipment, dispatch and clearance. After the trains arrive, we strictly adhere to the operational standard of completing vehicle unloading and container transfer within 90 minutes," said He Ruiqi, a staff member at the China Railway Kunming Group railway station.
He also revealed that China Railway Kunming Group has deployed more than 4,000 refrigerated containers specifically for durian transport to ensure adequate cold chain capacity during the peak sales season.
Shortly after being harvested in Thai plantations, the durians are quickly loaded into refrigerated containers and shipped via the China-Laos Railway express service, arriving in Kunming in less than three days, he added.
With the arrival of the peak season for durian, mangosteen, and other Southeast Asian tropical fruits, the total volume of tropical fruit transported via the China-Laos Railway in 2026 is expected to exceed 200,000 tons, according to estimates by local railway authorities.
Read: Indonesia Launches First 48-Ton Frozen Durian Export to China
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