Trucks have queued for tens of kilometers long in front of the Tan Thanh border gate for over 10 days. The state of congestion at Tan Thanh border gate occurs due to the huge numbers of trucks from provinces flocking to the border gate, beyond the capabilities of customs clearance here.

To reduce congestion, Lang Son Provincial Police set up several stations along Highway 1A and work 24/7.

A series of container trucks lying motionless at a station 20km from the Tan Thanh border gate. The Tan Thanh Customs Department said about 1,000 trucks from other provinces flock to Tan Thanh border gate each day while the Chinese side only accepts about 300 trucks a day.

The congestion is so severe that traffic police forces have to set up truck stops in Chi Lang district, nearly 80km from the Tan Thanh border gate.

There are hundreds of trucks carrying watermelons  from the central provinces of Binh Dinh , Quang Ngai, Phu Yen ... to export to China.

Truck drivers eat watermelon right on the road.

This driver carries watermelon from Binh Dinh. His truck has been stuck for two days.

Local people, over 20km from the Tan Thanh border gate way look at trucks stuck in front of their houses for many days.

Local people sell instant noodles and water to truck drivers.

Some drivers cook rice on the road.

At 9pm, the truck of driver Truong Van Hai, from Binh Dinh province, was only several hundreds of meters from the border gate. However, Hai did not expect to get customs clearance in the dark. His car carried 30 tons of watermelon and it was stuck here for nearly a week. Many watermelons were rotten. Hai said that Chinese merchants would cut down the prices and it was hard to break even for this batch.