First cargo flights between north-east China and Alaska to begin
Alaska’s Department of Transportation will meet with provincial officials from Heilongjiang Province, where Harbin is located, sometime in April to finalize details. Alaska Airlines will be the carrier. This will be a boon to U.S. exports of marine products, strawberries, cherries, and other high value agricultural commodities where freshness and speedy handling are essential to maintaining the quality of the product.
While Northeast China is the region closest to the United States, there are no direct cargo or passenger flights between the two countries. Northeast China is home to 110 million residents and the major cities of Changchun, Dalian, Daqing, Harbin and Shenyang. The U.S. Consulate and Agricultural Trade Office are located in Shenyang.
With the opening of direct flights, delivery time for U.S. products to Northeast China can be reduced from a matter of weeks to less than 24 hours. Flight time between Anchorage and Harbin is roughly 7 hours. High-speed rail time from Harbin to the major regional cities of Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province, and Dalian, northeast China’s largest coastal port, is roughly 4 hours each.
Similarly, Shenyang’s Taoxian International Airport is expanding international air service and in 2017 posted a record high number of passengers. Shenyang handled 17.34 million passengers last year, recording a year-on-year increase of 20.4 percent. Of these, 1.46 million were international travellers. Last year Shenyang opened direct flights to Bali, Bangkok, Cairo, Danang, Irkutsk, and Milan. Later in 2018, Shenyang will restart service to Frankfurt after several years’ hiatus due to lack of demand.
Dalian on the southern coast of Liaoning Province is China’s largest seaport receiving U.S. fishery products. With the creation of direct air cargo service between the Anchorage and Harbin U.S. exporters of Alaskan king crab, live lobster, fresh oysters and numerous other high-value marine products may find new opportunities. Similarly, exporters of premium horticultural products can enjoy a new polar gateway to Northeast China when heretofore U.S. shippers of fresh fruits had to rely on air and truck shipments via the ports of Guangzhou, Shanghai and Tianjin.
China’s imports of U.S. agricultural, forest and fishery products through the seaport of Dalian reached $1.9 billion in 2017. Of them, U.S. fishery products achieved a record $533 million. The four leading products were frozen flat fish ($162 million), frozen Pacific salmon ($139 million), and frozen cod ($100 million), and frozen cod ($36 million).