Under the Corridor Performance Measuring and Monitoring (CPMM) mechanism, time spent and payments made (official and unofficial) at each stop are recorded by activity. The list of activities encompasses all anticipated checks and procedures, both at border-crossing points (BCPs) and at intermediate stops along the transit corridor. However, as the CPMM focuses on BCPs, the list comprises mainly customs procedures and inspections during border crossings.
Road Transport
- Border security and control. Security personnel (i.e., the police or military) inspecting goods and checking documents at BCPs. Also includes payment of fees that may be official or unofficial.
- Customs controls. Customs personnel inspecting documents and goods entering or exiting a country. Similar activities are compiling customs forms and paying fees.
- Health or quarantine inspection. Health authorities checking a person for the presence of malignant or contagious disease. Also includes filling out health or quarantine forms, paying fees, and others.
- Phytosanitary inspection. Agriculture authorities inspecting cargo for possible presence of harmful pests and plant diseases. Similar activities include filling out phytosanitary forms and paying fees.
- Veterinary inspection. Veterinary authorities inspecting cargo for the possible presence of infectious animal diseases and regulating the flow of animals and animal products to a location. Similar activities are filling out veterinary forms and paying fees.
- Visa or immigration. Immigration authorities checking visas, and other required activities to apply for a visa to enter and exit the country when the driver has no valid visa. Also includes filling out immigration or visa forms and paying fees.
- Traffic inspection. Inspection by the Traffic Inspectorate or State Traffic Safety Inspectorate (Gosudarstvennya Avtomobilnaya Inspektsyya, or GAI).
- Police checkpoint or stop. Traffic police covering roadblocks or checkpoints along a road that also requires payment to proceed.
- Transport inspection. Checking the Certificate of Approval or Conformity for the Vehicles. Road passes are also checked.
- Weight and standard inspection. Checking the dimensions and weight of the vehicle with cargo, including queueing, payment of fees, and others.
- Vehicle registration. Registration of vehicle, and/or payment of applicable road use taxes, and/or transit fees.
- Emergency repair. Ad hoc repairs on vehicles that may be due to a tire blow-out, broken axle, and other reasons, generally because of bad road conditions. This is different from planned maintenance.
- Escort or convoy. A convoy is a row of vehicles that moves together. The vehicles are accompanied by escorts, who can be customs officials or traffic police to ensure that the cargoes reach their destination.
- Loading and/or unloading. Loading goods at the point of origin or loading and unloading at intermediate stops to deconsolidate cargo (i.e., transfer goods to another vehicle), or unloading upon delivery at the destination.
- Road toll. Fees payable when drivers use a special section of roads or highways that are intended to shorten the travel time.
- Waiting and/or queueing. Waiting in lines at BCPs. Note that this activity does not include other activities, such as waiting in line to fill out or submit customs documents, which is recorded as part of customs controls.
Rail Transport
- Load cargoes. The movement of goods from storage or warehouse to the train. If the goods are moved to a temporary storage, such as the staging area or loading docks before relocating to the train, then only the time from the staging area or loading docks to the train is considered.
- Unload cargoes. The movement of goods from the train to storage or warehouse. If the goods are moved to a temporary storage, such as the staging area or loading docks before relocating to the warehouse, then consider only the time from the train to the staging area or loading docks.
- Fix cargo shift. This refers to the securing of cargoes inside the container or wagon. When items are stuffed into containers, workers may “choke” or secure the cargoes to ensure they stay in position during transit. For instance, automobiles also need additional securing. This is to ensure cargoes stay in position during transit. Normally, this is a problem related to manufactured products transported on pallets or in cartons and may not apply to bulk commodities.
- Remove excess cargo. The movement of excess goods to comply with the weight requirement. This does not include inspection time. This activity only starts when the officer declares an “overweight” and orders a removal and ends when the excess goods are relocated from the train.
- Transload at gauge change point. This only happens at the People’s Republic of China (PRC) border or Polish border with a Commonwealth of Independent Nations (CIS) country. As the CIS uses 1,520-millimeter (mm) gauge, while non-CIS countries use 1,435 mm gauge, the cargoes need to be transloaded. This is done by changing the wheel sets or relocating the goods using forklifts.
- Pickup and deliver wagons. The movement of loaded containers and wagons between terminals to the consignee’s premises.
- Replace or repair inoperable wagon. This applies only if one or more train wagons is found to need service because it is significantly damaged and cannot be addressed by emergency repair. The action includes the movement from the tracks to the servicing centers, as well as the actual repair of the wagon in the servicing center.
- Emergency repair. Servicing of wagons on the tracks in the marshaling yard, without removing the wagon from the train. In this case the wagon is salvageable, in contrast to the more severe problem under the previous activity.
- Trains classification. The internal regroup of goods, platform, wagons, and containers to form a new train. This is needed as goods are bound for different destinations and leave at different schedules. Normally this happens at major rail terminals.
- Fix document errors. This applies to a special situation when there are errors on the documents (freight bill, cargo manifest, packing list, and others). It does not include normal processing time and starts only when an error is found, and action is taken to correct the error. This activity ends when the authorities confirm the error is corrected. At borders, this correction may require substantial effort and many days to complete.
- Reissue transit documents. This typically applies to the PRC rail shipments to CIS countries. Not all PRC railway stations can handle international shipments, but there are occasions when loading and/or unloading is necessary in such domestic stations. Thus, a domestic document is used for movement of cargo from this station to the international terminal (such as Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region), where another set of international documents is used. This is when the data is manually rewritten or translated.
- Customs inspection. The customs officer assessing compliance with the customs code. The customs officer also checks for any dutiable goods, forbidden items, or dangerous goods.
- Technical inspection. Engineers or technicians inspecting to ascertain cargo security and safety, as well as the condition of the train and its equipment.
- Commercial inspection. An activity undertaken by a regulatory agency to affirm the quality of the shipment or to ensure that certain restricted material (dual use) is not exported.
- Sanitary and phytosanitary control. The phytosanitary team regularly checking the train’s sanitation standards, as well as the acceptability of goods, such as agriculture, food, meat, and consumable products. This action also covers health issues, such as health certificates of the staff onboard the train.
- Waiting due to various reasons. An activity undertaken by a regulatory agency to affirm the quality of the shipment or to ensure certain restricted material (dual use) is not exported.