When goods need to pass through two or more national railways, a transport ticket is used. After the consignor ships the goods, the carrier is responsible for the entire transportation task of the goods. This mode of transportation is called international railway freight transport. With this mode of transportation, when the goods are transferred from one country’s railway to another country’s railway, the consignor and the consignee do not need to participate. Its opening not only eliminates the need to re-process the consignment procedures for goods at the border station, but also reduces the manpower, material resources and time required for the transshipment of goods through direct cross-rail transportation, thereby facilitating and accelerating the transportation of goods, reducing the damage and difference of goods, reducing transportation costs, and creating favorable conditions for the development of international trade.
The procedure for international railway freight transport is roughly as follows.
First, according to the trade contracts of various import and export professional companies, a copy of the contract is sent to the foreign transport company to agree on the relevant freight matters. Then the former prepares the goods, and the latter prepares to arrange the specific delivery matters. Then, the foreign transport department at the railway sending point fills out six copies of the international combined transport plan vehicle table based on the source of goods, train conditions and transportation requirements, and submits it to the superior foreign transport department and railway department for approval and filing. Finally, the foreign transport company prepares a copy of the international combined transport railway waybill and waybill according to the content of the consignment note (i.e. the copy of the contract), and submits it to the railway department, and then consigns and loads it to the station according to the plan.
According to the amount of goods, it can be divided into two types: full truckload and less-than-load. Full truckload refers to a batch of goods that need to be transported by a separate vehicle and are handled according to one waybill; less-than-load refers to a batch of goods that weigh no more than 5,000 kilograms and cannot be transported by a separate vehicle according to the volume.
According to the speed of cargo transportation, the types of consigned goods can be divided into express and slow transportation. For express consigned goods, the railway gives priority to consignment, dispatch, loading, car compilation and hanging. The express freight is about 100% more than the slow freight. If the full truckload of goods is required to be transported with a passenger train, the freight is about 100% more than the slow freight.
The transportation cost of combined transport goods includes freight, escort fares, miscellaneous fees and other related expenses. Domestic railway transportation costs are paid by the consignor in RMB to the sending station in accordance with my country’s “Railway Freight Rates”. Transit railway transportation costs can be paid by the consignor to the sending station or by the consignee at the final destination station in accordance with the “Uniform Freight Rates”. The transportation costs of the arrival railway are paid by the consignee to the final destination station in accordance with the domestic regulations of the arrival railway. The calculation of international railway combined transport freight is mainly based on the “Uniform Freight Rates” and the “Railway Freight Rates” (hereinafter referred to as the “Price Rules”).
The railway freight costs of the sending country and the arrival country are handled in accordance with the domestic regulations of the country where the railway is located. The railway freight costs of the transit country are calculated according to the unified freight rates on the day of carriage and are paid by the consignor or consignee. For my country’s exported combined transport goods, the delivery conditions generally stipulate that the goods are delivered on the seller’s vehicle, so we are only responsible for the transportation costs to the border station. For imported combined transport goods, you have to bear the transit transportation costs and the costs of my country’s railway section.
The original and duplicate of the railway waybill are the main transport documents for international railway combined transport. It is a transport contract signed between the railway of the sending country and the consignor participating in the combined transport. It specifically stipulates the rights and obligations of the railways of various countries participating in the combined transport and the consignees and consignors, and is legally binding on the consignees, consignors and railways. When the consignor submits all the goods to the departure station and pays all the fees that should be paid by the consignor, the departure station stamps the departure station’s carriage date on the original and duplicate of the waybill to prove that the goods have been accepted for carriage, and the transport contract is considered to have come into effect. The international railway freight combined transport waybill is a total of five copies. In addition to the original and duplicate of the waybill, there are also operation declarations, cargo delivery orders and cargo arrival notices.
The international railway freight combined transport waybill should usually be accompanied by export goods declarations, export licenses, commodity inspection certificates and other documents. In addition, depending on the situation of different exported goods, some should also be accompanied by weight list, packing list, quarantine certificate, veterinary certificate, test report and other documents stipulated in the sales contract and in accordance with customs, entry-exit inspection, quarantine and other laws and regulations.