Beijing Traffic Restrictions – Olympic Update, July 2008

This is the latest update from the Chinese Government. Starting from July 20, all deliveries and pick-ups will be done in the twilight hours. Packing and unpacking will still be done during normal daylight hours. In addition, all vehicles will be restricted to operating on alternate days dictated by the last digit in the vehicle number plate and the date. Therefore only vehicles whose last digit is an even number will be permitted on the road that day and be off the road the next day and so on. Area restrictions will be eased from August 28, but not by much.

From July 20 to September 20, 2008

All commercial trucks, no matter size, can only be driven between midnight and 6 am on all roads within all of Beijing.

From July 01 to September 20, 2008

All “yellow labeled” trucks are no longer permitted on the roads of Beijing until September 20 with a possible extension to the end of the year. These are trucks whose engines do not comply with European Emission Standards. Only “green labeled” trucks comply and will be permitted on the road. This takes out approximately 30% of all Beijing registered trucks. All Asian Tiger vehicles have green labels. All non-Beijing registered vehicles are prohibited from entering the city of Beijing as of July 01. As the port of Xingang is in Tianjin, which is outside of Beijing, all traffic to/from the port can only be hauled by Beijing registered trucks with all the other regulations also being complied with. As of today, market rates have pushed haulage to/from the port up to RMB15,000 / trip for 20’ or 40’ containers and RMB4,000 for LCL cargo with similar increases for airfreight. We have no choice but to pass on this additional handling cost. With the reduction of the remaining trucks available reduced by 50% as from July 20, market rates will continue to fluctuate. We will update you as we see where these costs go. We will do our best to keep cost increases to a minimum, but market rates will dictate where this goes.

From July 20 to August 27, 2008

Restriction for road access controlled by the last digit on the vehicle license plate on alternating days according to the calendar date for all of Beijing so that at any one time 50% of all remaining vehicles will be off the road at any one time.

From August 28 to September 20, 2008

Access Restriction according to last digit on the plate and the calendar date for all areas inside the 5th Ring Road of Beijing covering all inner city suburbs and certain specified Highways, but excluding the Shunyi Residential Area, Capital Airport and our warehouse, which are all outside the 5th Ring Road.