Which crossing handles which cargo — and what actually happens at the border
The vast majority of freight entering Mongolia from China passes through Zamyn-Uud (Dornogovi province) — Erenhot (China). It has both rail and road links: sea containers arriving via Tianjin port and rail cargo from inland Chinese cities all enter Mongolia here.
From Zamyn-Uud, rail to Ulaanbaatar is the most common leg. When wagons are scarce, we truck containers from Zamyn-Uud instead to save time.
China's railways run on 1435 mm standard gauge, while Mongolia and Russia use 1520 mm broad gauge. A Chinese wagon physically cannot continue onto Mongolian track — so at Erenhot every container is lifted by crane and reloaded onto a Mongolian wagon.
This transshipment, together with wagon availability on the Mongolian side, is the main factor in border transit time. Queues build up in peak season — which is exactly where an experienced forwarder makes the difference.
Rail cargo from Russia and Europe enters through Naushki (Russia) — Sukhbaatar (Selenge province). Russia and Mongolia share the same 1520 mm gauge, so no transshipment is needed — wagons continue straight through.
Road freight from Russia enters via Kyakhta (Russia) — Altanbulag (Selenge province), connected to Ulaanbaatar by paved highway — well suited to trucking.
General import cargo rarely uses these — the main commercial flows run through Zamyn-Uud, Sukhbaatar and Altanbulag.
When cargo crosses, the following work takes place:
We handle all of this for you — you simply receive your cargo in Ulaanbaatar, with status updates at every major milestone.
