Due to the impact of covid-19 pandemic in Mongolia, the border entry (from the Elian border to Zamiin-Uud) is restrictively controlled by local governments. This unfortunately causes a severe impact on transportation efficiency, please do note that all Maersk Spot offerings on this corridor are closed. (Except for offline customer orders which are carried out as usual). Specifically, on Xingang,Tianjin to Ulaanbaatar,Mongolia railway product, disruption/heavy delay for both dry/reefer container are expected. Please kindly find below updates for your reference.

For Dry container (service mode: Rail)

Average waiting time at Xingang will be still over 3 months. Additional Trucking storage fee may occur.

For Reefer container (service mode: Trucking + Rail)

Xingang-Erlian border (by trucking): Erlian border can accept cross border cargo now, but as we all realized that there is a national wide breakout in China in the past half months. There is a high probability that the traffic restriction or quarantine of the drivers will prolong the lead time or even stop the transportation.

Erlian border -ZU border (service mode: by trucking): Erlian border crossing now is running by under a policy of random selection (there is not a regular schedule such as one round per month which subject to government decisions when will start a new round of selection.) It causes that the waiting time at Erlian is still unpredictable.

*Additional Trucking fee& storage fee may occur.

We thank you in advance for your continued support and look forward to continuing to connect your supply chain. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your local sales or customer service representative. You will find contact details of our local offices on Maersk website.

BEIJING--China will launch three more astronauts to its newest space station in June after the latest crew returned this weekend following a six-month stay in orbit, an official said Sunday.

The crew of the Shenzhou 14 capsule will spend six months on the Tiangong to add two modules to the station, Hao Chun, director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, told a news conference.

China’s ambitious space program launched its first astronaut into orbit in 2003, landed robot rovers on the moon in 2013, and on Mars last year. Officials have discussed a possible crewed mission to the moon.

The core module of the Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, was launched in April 2021. Plans call for completing construction this year.

The Wentian module will be launched in July and the Mengtian module in October, Hao said.

Near the end of the Shenzhou 14 crew’s mission, three more astronauts will be launched aboard Shenzhou 15 for a six-month stay, Hao said. He added that the two crews would overlap for three to five days, marking the first time the station has six people aboard.

On Saturday, the crew of Shenzhou 13 landed in the Gobi desert in the northern region of Inner Mongolia.

During the mission, astronaut Wang Yaping carried out the first spacewalk by a Chinese woman. Wang, commander Zhai Zhigang and crewmate Ye Guangfu also beamed back physics lessons for high school students.

China was the third nation to launch an astronaut into space on its own after the former Soviet Union and the United States. Tiangong is China’s third space station following predecessors launched in 2011 and 2016.

The government announced in 2020 that China’s first reusable spacecraft had landed following a test flight but no photos or details have been released.

China is excluded from the International Space Station due to U.S. unease that its space program is run by the ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army.

BEIJING, April 18 (Reuters) - China's coal output rose 15% in March from the same month a year ago, with daily production climbing to a record, as Beijing urged miners to crank up operations to ensure steady market supply.

China churned out 395.79 million tonnes of coal last month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday, equivalent to 12.77 million tonnes per day.

That compares with 10.99 million tonnes per day in March 2021, and 11.64 million tonnes per day for the first two months of 2022.

China has targeted daily coal production at 12.6 million tonnes this year, as Beijing has prioritised energy security in the wake of geopolitical uncertainties caused by the Ukraine conflict.

Output over the first quarter of the year reached 1.08 billion tonnes, up 10% on the year, NBS data showed.

Coal inventories at major utilities in eight coastal provinces totalled 28.18 million tonnes in early April, according to analysts from Changjiang Securities, about 6 million tonnes higher than the same period last year.

But coal consumption at the utilities was 12% lower than a year ago, partly reflecting lockdowns, factories suspending operations and restrictions on mobility in cities like Shanghai, where COVID-19 infections have flared up.

The anti-COVID measures also affected production and transportation at some mines in Shanxi, the major coal mining region. Analysts from Guangfa Futures said utilisation rates at coking coal mines in Shanxi fell by 1.5% in early April from late-March.

Some coal industry officials have expressed concern that China might not maintain record output for long, as some mines that were ordered to expand production since December are not able to sustain operations.

Reporting by Muyu Xu and Dominique Patton; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell

Minister of Foreign Affairs B. Battsetseg said today, April 18, that Mongolia and the United States have never held talks on establishing a joint biological laboratory.

In specific, some Russian high-level officials allegedly claimed on media that “the side of the US held talks with Mongolia on establishing biological laboratories following the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.” Yesterday on April 17, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia officially stated that this is a false and unsubstantiated claim.

About the statement, Minister B. Battsetseg told the press, “This information has been published four times on a Russian newspaper. It was also reported by the Chinese media. In regards to this, I would like to state that the information is false.

Mongolia continues to pursue a peaceful, open, multi-pillar foreign policy. If necessary, it is possible for us to make a presentation for Russian and international organizations as well as the public. We have detailed information on all projects, programs and studies that Mongolian public organizations have implemented with foreign investment and funding. In particular, we have thoroughly checked what projects are there that people are suspicious of.”

Recently, some Russian high-level officials have allegedly claimed on media that “US side talked to Mongolia on establishing biological laboratories following the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine”.

Mongolia officially states that this is a false and unsubstantiated claim.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia

Mongolia's health ministry confirmed 12 new COVID-19 infections on April 18.

10 new cases were recorded in Ulaanbaatar, 2 cases were detected in the regions.

No new related deaths have been recorded in Mongolia since March 10, and the country's COVID-19 death toll remains at 2,108 as of April 18.

In an attempt to protect one of its most critical industries, tourism, the Turkish government is reportedly planning to launch three programs aimed at increasing the number of Russian guests at the country’s resorts.

The conflict in Ukraine led to sanctions on Russia-linked companies, which has made it difficult for tour operators in Russia to continue bringing tourists into Turkey.

Ankara has announced a series of measures intended to increase the number of tourists from Russia, the Turkish daily Sabah reports. The plan will reportedly be implemented by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, as well as by the Ministry of Finance.

The government-backed scheme will provide Turkish travel companies operating in Russia, such as Anex Tour, Pegas Touristic and Coral Travel, with a $300-million loan backed by the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF).

The country’s flag carrier Turkish Airlines has reached an agreement with tour operators to fly 1.5 million tourists from Russia to Turkey over the year. Moreover, Turkey’s second-largest carrier, Pegasus Airlines, along with Russian airlines flying to Turkey, will reportedly allocate up to 500,000 seats.

As part of the plan, Ankara has created a brand-new charter airline, called Southwind, which will fly visitors from Russia to Turkey and back. The new carrier will reportedly be based in Antalya, a popular resort getaway along Turkey’s southern coast. The airline’s first flights are scheduled for the end of May and the fleet so far consists of five Airbus aircraft, the news portal Airport Haber reports.

Prior to the launch of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB) was expecting seven million visitors from Russia and two million visitors from Ukraine in 2022. The two nations make up over a quarter of international tourist traffic to Turkey annually.

On the second day of the ‘Food supply and security – Crop farming’ forum, meetings of vegetable and fruit/berry farmers took place.

Minister of Food Agriculture and Light Industry Z.Mendsaikhan stressed that special emphasis is being placed on providing support and long-term investments in the sector as it takes fruits and berries at least 3 years to bear fruit and that the business requires many years of effort and investment and research-based technologies. “The government implemented the Seabuckthorn national program in 2010-2016, providing support in growing seedlings, conducting research, processing the fruits and berries, and boosting export in addition to making efforts to increase seabuckthorn berry production and giving 2.5 million seedlings to farmers on soft loans,” said the Minister, adding that further efforts will be made to promote export.

Vegetable farmers and crop storage facility operators also convened for a meeting on the same day, at which the Agriculture Minister gave information on the current state of the country’s potato and vegetable farming industry and government’s measures and other speakers gave speeches on global food supply, traceability system, and other topics.

There were 338 businesses and 2,511 self-employed people in the country’s fruit and berry farming industry as of 2021, the year when the total area of fruit and berry production reached 6,686 hectares and a record 3,760 tons of fruits and berries were harvested, which indicate a 4.4-fold increase in the production area and a 9.8-fold growth in harvest volume compared to 2009. However, the country could meet only about 2 percent of the domestic demand with such an amount and continues to import 20-24 thousand tons of fruits every year.

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry plans to increase the total area of fruit and berry production by 13.5 thousand hectares to 20 thousand hectares, plant 24 million fruit and berry trees, create agro-forestry businesses in rural areas and the capital city.

Even though the country is growing seabuckthorn and blackcurrant seedlings locally, 95 percent of seedlings of other fruits and berries including apples, plums, and cherries that can be grown in Mongolia are imported.

‘Uvs Chatsargana’, seabuckthorn berries from Uvs aimag, has been registered in the EU as the first Protected Geographical Indication from Mongolia in 2022, which enables to increase export of the berries.