Sino-Russian cross-border hovercraft service begins operations

China’s Heihe Port has commenced operations of a new passenger hovercraft service to and from the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk.

The service will provide an alternate means of transport between Heihe and Blagoveshchensk via the Heilong River during the winter, when ice drift will prevent conventional vessels from plying the same route. Because of the high operating speeds of the hovercraft that will be deployed, the one-way distance between the two cities can be covered in as little as two minutes.

The cross-border service will be operated for approximately one month.