Heihe-Blagoveshchensk passenger ship services resume, boosting China-Russia border tourism

(ECNS) -- International passenger ships resumed operations between China's Heihe Port and Russia's Blagoveshchensk Port on Wednesday.

Compared to the hovercraft service period, the passenger ship capacity has risen threefold in the number of travelers crossing the China-Russia border.

On the first day of operations, China and Russia each deployed one passenger ship, with a capacity of 240 passengers per vessel, 10 times that of a hovercraft.

Currently, outbound Chinese tourists are mainly made up of senior tour groups. Sun Baokui, head of the Daqing Iron Man Art Troupe, said that his group of 27 people headed to Russia's Amur Oblast to participate in a performance marking 80 years since the end of WWII.

Inbound Russian tourists were mainly part of shopping tours. On the same day, the first Russian passenger ship docked at Heihe Port around 9 a.m.

Russian tourist Andrey said he has traveled to China many times, and Chinese people are warmhearted.

With the resumption of international passenger ship services, Heihe Port is set to enter its summer tourism peak.

Dai Chen, deputy captain of the first duty team at the Heihe Border Inspection Station, said that the station has developed an efficient, standardized, and well-coordinated management model to ensure that travelers can pass through customs safely and efficiently.

(By Gong Weiwei)