ISLAMABAD, June 6 (INP): Pakistani mangoes will embark on first land journey to Xinjiang, China this year
“We are planning to export [Pakistani] mangoes after 10th June this year to Xinjiang via land route,” Tayyab Khan, CEO of logistics company Sadequain Shipping Line, told China Economic Net (CEN) in an interview.
Having succeeded in shipping the first land containerised seafood cargo from Karachi to Kashgar, China last week, the Karachi-based logistics enterprise will transport Chaunsa mangoes from Pakistan’s major mango-producing city of Multan to Tashkurgan via the Karakoram Highway before distributing them to other cities in Xinjiang, Tayyab told CEN reporter.
He added that “Currently, we have some customers who need to export 2000 tons of mangoes to Kashgar and Urumqi, but once it starts, I hope they will export more.”
The transport of mangoes will be undertaken by refrigerated containers that “can provide temperature-controlled environment with a range from -20 to 25 degrees Celsius.
In between this range, all commodities like vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, and chicken will be covered,” the logistics-minded businessman noted.
Tayyab shared that the journey from Multan to Tashkurgan, including customs clearance time in Sost and Tashkurgan, is expected to take approximately 6 days.
In addition to mangoes, cherries from Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan are also expected to debut in Xinjiang, he said.
“This year, we have also had a requirement from Gilgit-Baltistan that they want to export cherries to the Xinjiang region,” he elaborated, sharing that the vehicles and containers are already being placed in the cherry-producing region to accommodate the commodity.
Tayyab noted that their operations would soon extend to other parts of China, particularly Guangzhou and Shenzhen, adding, “We usually transport cargo by sea, but we are planning to divert this cargo through land routes.”
The Pakistani businessman concluded, “We are still searching for good [logistics] companies in China who can cooperate with us for this land route. In this regard, I will go to China next week to develop this route.”
