The first potash to be railed on the new China-Laos Railway left the Laos capital of Vientiane on Dec. 3 for China, soon after the cross-border railway was officially inaugurated, according to a report by China’s Xinhua news agency.
The potash – aboard the first train to use the new rail link – was produced by China-Laos joint venture Sino-Agri International Potash Co. The report did not indicate how much potash was aboard the train, however, saying only “potash products were among the cargo loaded on the train.”
The 1,035-km electrified passenger and cargo railway connects Kunming in southwest China’s Yunnan Province with Vientiane. With a maximum operating speed of 160 km/h, the travel time from Vientiane to Kunming is about 10 hours, including customs clearance time, according to the report.
The operation of the railway will help boost potassium production in Laos and its exportation, Sino-Agri General Manager Tong Yongheng told Xinhua.
The report cited the Vice President of the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Valy Vetsaphong, who is also advisor to the Lao Prime Minister, saying that the railway “will convert [landlocked] Laos from being geographically disadvantaged, by taking advantage of its location to a regional land-linked hub.”
Many business operators will switch to exporting products by using the new railway, which is expected to cut the cost of transport by 30-40 percent compared to traveling by road, Vetsaphong said.
Construction of the rail section in Laos from the border town of Boten to Vientiane began in December 2016, and construction of the section in China from the city of Yuxi to the border town of Mohan started 12 months earlier. The railway fully adopts Chinese technical standards, according to the report.
Tong reported that Sino-Agri’s first 1 million mt/y potassium production unit in Laos’ central Khammouane Province recently entered the pilot phase, according to the report. He added the company now is eyeing the second and third production lines of 1 million mt/y each.
Laos produced an estimated 750,000 mt of potassium chloride in 2020, according to IFA data, with all of the output exported.