Mongolia Port Assessment

The closest ports to Mongolia are:

Tianjin, China - approximately 1700km from Tianjin to Ulaanbaatar

Website for Port of Tiajin

Vladivostok, Russia - approximately 3,800km from Vladivostok to Ulaanbaatar 

Website for Port of Vladivostok

For transit times and costs to move cargo from these ports see road and railway assessment sections.

In Russia there is also Nahodka, Vaninoand, Vostochny, all on the Sea of Japan; St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea and Novorossiskon the Black Sea.

Bulk cargo cannot be transported through China as they have no bulk cargo handling capabilities.

Mongolia Aviation 

For information on Mongolia airports contacts details, please see the following link: 4.4 Mongolia Airport Company Contact List

Key airport information may also be found at: World Aero Data information on Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar receives 98% of international flights. Khovd, Choibalsan, and Ulgii have scheduled international flights. Khovd and Choibalsan to Inner Mongolia and Ulgii to Kazakhstan. In the event of Ulaanbaatar International Airport being rendered inoperable, there is a reserve military airport that is administered by the Ministry of Defence. It is located 45km from Ulaanbaatar (near Nalayh) and has a runway length of 3000m but is not of a significant width to land anything over a C130. There is limited information known about this airport, but logistical gaps may include cargo handling equipment, aircraft handling equipment and inadequate storage (none of which is heated).

Few domestic airports have infrastructure that complies with the International Civil Aviation Organization standards, but they mostly have sufficient infrastructure to accommodate the few scheduled domestic services that operate. Mongolia has a total of 21 licensed domestic airports (see annex - Domestic Airports of Mongolia). Nine of these have paved/asphalt runways, and only these and one other have runway lighting. All nine paved/asphalt runways exceed 2,200 m in length and the sixteen unpaved runways exceed 1,600 m. Grass/gravel runways are used for operations by un-pressurized turbo-prop aircraft, such as have been used on domestic services for the last three decades.

Operations during winter can severely hamper air traffic due to inadequate snow clearing and deicing equipment. Domestic air traffic control services were upgraded through an Asian Development Bank loan during the 1990s and are generally now adequate. Mongolia is Signatory to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation from 1989 and number of International Treaties. Mongolia is a party to the International Air Transit Agreement of 1944 from 2004 and a party to the Cargo only related Protocol of the Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of International Air Transportation (MALIAT). Civil Aviation Authority of Mongolia (CAAM) sits within the Ministry of Road, Transportation, Construction and Urban Development. They are responsible for aviation safety, airports in Mongolia, registration of aircraft, security. All aircraft handling charges are levied by them and are the same for all airports in Mongolia.

Procedures for Foreign Registered Aircraft

To register a foreign aircraft, the interested party must apply to the Civil Aviation Authority.  A form 'B' must be completed (see annex - Flight Request Form).  The following documents must also be submitted via email (fpd@mcaa.gov.mn):

• air operator certificate
• aircraft registration certificate
• airworthiness certificate
• radio station license
• pilot license
• pilot medical certificate
• confirmation of A/C ACAS/TCAS and GPWS equipment

This information must be submitted at least 3 days prior for processing.

For information on Mongolia airports contacts details, please see the following link:

4.4 Mongolia Airport Company Contact List

For information on Mongolia domestic airports details, please see the following document:

Domestic Airports of Mongolia

Note: The information provided in the attached documents, which has been taken from the old DLCA, does not match the structure of the new LCA and is therefore provided separately

Mongolia Road Network

For information on Mongolia Road Network contact details, please see the following link 4.1 Mongolia Government Contact List

Mongolia has a state road network of just over 12,660km, of which only about 2,244 km are paved, 1,440 km has a gravel surface and 1,346 km has an improved earth surface. Over 6,900 km is earth tracks. Most overland roads in Mongolia are gravel roads or simple cross-country tracks, and most of these are not reliable year-round; consequently, loading capacity is limited. Lack of snow or ice clearing in winter and no system of sanding or gritting road surfaces leads to ice formation that lasts for a long time and slows traffic. At present only two paved road leads to a border post, the road from Ulaanbaatar to the Russian border and the road to the Bulgan border post with China in the west of Mongolia. The road south to the Chinese border at Zamyn Uud currently has about 450km of unpaved road. Other paved roads from Ulaanbaatar exist but are very limited (500 km westward and 250 km eastward). Some road construction projects are currently underway (construction of the east–west so-called Millennium Road) and others are under consideration (a third paved border road, in Western Mongolia linking China to Russia).

Road construction and maintenance fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Road, Transportation, Construction and Urban development of Mongolia. TRANSIT TIMES/COST - trucks are approximately 2 times more expensive than train. From Tianjin - Zamyn-Uud by truck is 2-3 days. Before embarking on any journey, local advise is to seek information from bus or trucking companies to determine the latest conditions. Distances can be deceiving. 100 km can take anything from one to four hours depending on the road and weather. Often there will be 30 or 40km of paved road leading away from a town such as Khovd or Saishand but then it will turn into a braiding of dirt track for hundreds of kilometres where the driver will choose one of several tracks running through open ground. There are few bridges on the dirt roads so fords are common. Traffic is very light, ranging from one to twenty vehicles per hour. Ministry of Road, Transportation, Construction and Urban Development of Mongolia manage the process.   Private licensed companies, through a tender process maintain and build the roads. Funding for road development projects is through loans, technical assistance, grants, and other aid received sources such as the World Bank, Asian Development bank,European Union, Japanese Government, and Kuwait fund for Arabic Development.

Distance Matrix

Travel Time Matrix

Road Security

Road security is good though there are safety issues due to cold temperatures in winter and the isolated nature of many roads.  Some humanitarian agencies require that travel to areas that are not on the main roads are done in a two car convoy and many cars are equipped with GPS.

Weighbridges and Axle Load Limits

There are no weighbridges in Mongolia. In rural Mongolia there are no axle load limits.  Trucks over 2mt are not permitted in the inner city of Ulaanbaatar. There are also no axle load limits on the roads from borders posts with Russia or China.

Road Class and Surface Conditions

Mongolia Railway Assessment

For information on Mongolia Railway contact details, please see the following link: 

4.9 Mongolia Railway Company Contact List

The Mongolian rail network comprises 1,815 km of broad gauge track, of which 1,110 km are on the main line linking Russia to China, 238 km are on a separate network in Eastern Mongolia that has its own link to the Russian railway, and the remaining 477 km are branches from the main line (going to Erdenet and Baganuur). Erdenet is 164km south west of Darkhan (off the main Sukhbaatar - Zamyn-Uud Lint).  Baganuur is 94km east (off the main Sukhbaatar - Zamyn-Uu d Line).  It branches off between UB and Choir. The Trans-Mongolian railway is a single track, has  a limited capacity and is vulnerable to damage from natural disasters such as earthquake. The gauge is the same as that in Russia but there is a different gauge in China. Therefore, each carriage (freight and passengers) needs to have its bogies changed at the Chinese border which can take several hours.

Maximum train weights have now reached 6,000 gross tons. Transit rail freight has increased from about 15 percent of total rail freight ton km in 1990 to about 25 percent by 2005, and it now provides an even larger share of railway freight revenue. With the additional new prospect of transporting significant mining output to China, the existing single track railway linking Russia to China through Ulaanbaatar has not sufficient capacity to transport all the available freight. The maximum capacity of the railway per year is 25 million tonnes. Currently approximately 18 million tonnes are moved per year. In 2007, rail transport carried 93% of Mongolian freight and 43% of passenger turnover (in tons/km and passenger/km, respectively). During heavy rain bridges can be damaged. Snow and blowing snow can cause delays. 

TRANSIT TIMES: Tianjin to UB: 8 - 10 days and Vladivostok to UB: 8 - 10 days

Travel Time Matrix

Railway Companies and Consortia

All of the railway lines that are currently in Mongolia are maintained and owned by Ulaanbaatar Railway.  This is a joint venture between the governments of Russia and Mongolia who each hold a 50% share. Russia and Mongolia signed an agreement for the development of an additional 6,000 kilometres. Russia’s railway monopoly OAO Russian Railways is prepared to invest US$1.5 billion towards this train network to help boost trade between the two countries. The extensions to the line are to be build by a recently formed organisation Mongolian Railway. This is 100% owned by the Mongolian Government. The two countries also signed an agreement to extend the Ulaanbaatar Railway network, which is a Russian/Mongolian joint venture, by a further US$250 million in capital to extend capacity to the Tavan Tolgoi coal deposits in the South Gobi.

Phase 1 of the extension of the railway network is:

1. Dalanzadgad – Tavan Tolgoi – Tsagaan Suvarga – Sainshand (555 km);
2. Sainshand – Baruun-Urt (350 km);
3. Baruun-Urt – Khuut (140 km);
4. Khuut – Choibalsan (150 km).

Capacity Table

Key Route Information

The Trans-Mongolian railway runs from Sukhbaatar on the border with Russia, through Ulaanbaatar to Zamyn-Uud on the border with China. It consists of 1,110 km of single track line. It is has a gauge of 1520mm (4 ft 11 5⁄6 in) as does Russia. China's rail system has a standard gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2in) so the bogies must be changed when trains move between these two countries. This can take several hours. Each day there are between 11 and 18 trains running on this line. There can be issues during winter with snow on the tracks causing closures for up to a couple of days at a time. There can also be issues with blowing sand on the southern section of the line in the Gobi Desert. This section of railway line has 4 large bridges that are 100-150 metres long. If they were to be damaged, Ulaanbaatar Railway does not have the capacity to repair them and so the line would be closed for an extended period of time. There are customs clearance facilities in Sukhbaatar, Ulaanbaatar (City Customs), Darkhan, Erdenet and Zamyn-Uud. Approximate transit time from Tianjin - Ulaanbaatar is approximately 10 days by train.

The Trans- Mongolian Railway runs from Beijing through Ulaanbaatar and onto a junction called Zaudinsky, near Ulan Ude in Russia. Here it meets the Trans-Siberian line which continues onto Moscow to the west and Vladivostok to the east. China - The transit time from Tianjin (port near Beijing) to Ulaanbaatar is approximately 8-10 days by train. Generally freight is trucked to the Mongolian border and then loaded on trains at Zamyn-Uud to be freighted through to Ulaanbaatar. The cargo handling capacity at the Mongolia/China border is limited and there can often be delays in loading containers onto the train. The averaged cost to ship a 20ft container from Tianjin to Ulaanbaatar is $3000 USD and $4500 USD for a 40ft container. China does not have wagons to carry bulk cargo such as wheat.  Russia - Freight can be brought from Vladivostok to Ulaanbaatar (approximately 8 days) and the average cost for a 20ft container is $4000 USD and $6000 USD for a 40ft container. This will depend on railway wagon availability and rental charges. Freight via train is considerably cheaper than via trucks, though often takes longer

Key Stations

For information on Mongolia Railway contact details, please see the following link: 

4.9 Mongolia Railway Company Contact List

Mongolia Waterways Assessment

For information on Mongolia Waterways contacts details, please see the following link 4.3 Mongolia Port and Waterways Company Contact List

Mongolia has a total of 580 km of waterways but only Lake Khovsgol (North/North-West, Russian border) has boats that operate on a regular basis.  The lakes and rivers freeze over in the winter and are usually open between May and September.

Lake Khovsgol

The lake is 101km north of Moron and is 2140m above sea level. It is 136km from south (Hatgal) to north (Hanh) of the lake. Most of these boats that travel on the lake are charted for tourist travel. The largest boat operating on the lake is the Sukhbaatar, that can carry 140 passengers and is operated by Nomin Company. It takes approximately 7 hours (and one tonne of diesel) to get from Hatgal to Hanh. There are approximately 30 smaller motor boats that have a carrying capacity of 5-12 people. These can be rented on an hourly basis.

Other Waterways

The Selenge (270 km) and Orkhon (175 km) rivers are navigable but see little boat traffic. There is a customs boat that patrols the Selenge to the Russian border.

Company Information

Travel Time Matrix

For information on Mongolia Waterways contacts details, please see the following link: 

4.3 Mongolia Port and Waterways Company Contact List

Mongolia Storage Assessment

For information on Mongolia Storage company contact details, please see the following link: 

4.5 Mongolia Storage and Milling Company Contact List

Storage can be difficult to find. There is a lack of good quality storage in Mongolia.  There are older concrete structures that are often used for storing stock feed.  Most warehousing in Mongolia has no temperature control which poses a challenge during winter where temperatures can drop to minus 45. NEMA is able to make storage space available in most provincial centres but these are generally used to store fodder and are of varying quality. There are 24 companies which have been certified to operate customs bonded warehouses in Mongolia (see annex - Customs Bonded Warehouses and Temporary Storage). Commercial companies such as Tavan Bogd Group and Tuushin Co and government ministries may be able to provide space in secure locations for the erection of mobile storage units.

The approximate rates:

• Standard warehouse 1m2 - 5,000 tg per month
• Refrigerated warehouse 1 ton - 1,750 tg per day

Commercial Storage

There are a number of larger holding companies such as Nomin and Tavan Bodg Group that have public storage including cold storage and temperature controlled warehouses. Most of this is located in Ulaanbaatar.

Storage Used by Humanitarian Organizations

The humanitarian community in Mongolia does not currently have large amounts of storage facilities.

Public Sector Storage

NEMA has storage in Ulaanbaatar and a number of aimags, that can be made available for a humanitarian response.  In the Dzud response of 2010 other public space such as schools and hospital storage areas were utilized.

Cold Chain

UNICEF and the National Centre for Communicable Diseases (Ministry of Health) have established theNational Vaccine Store facility in Ulaanbaatar. Ulaanbaatar Impex (part of Nomin Holdings) has 4 cooling storage facilities: 470-ton capacity and 3168 square meter area cooling storage facilities for storing frozen food at -12C to 25C.

Mongolia Milling Assessment

For information on Mongolia Milling contact details, please see the following link: 

4.5 Mongolia Storage and Milling Company Contact List

There are 72 mills in Mongolia with the capacity to produce 532.8 thousand tons of wheat flour per year in Mongolia by 2009. Mills are located in 15 provinces as well as in Ulaanbaatar city. It was estimated that 25% and 15% of flour need were supplied by Altan Taria and Ulaanbaatar Flour Mill (owned by Tavan Bogd Group) mills respectively. Alan Taria has a mill in Ulaanbaatar and Sukhbaatar while Ulaanbaatar Guril has a mill in Ulaanbaatar and is soon to open another in Darkhan.

Milling Company Altan Taria

Altan Taria is one of the largest milling companies in Monoglia. They have a mill in Sukhbaatar and Ulaanbaatar. 

Milling Company Ulaanbaatar Flour Mill (Tavan Bogd Group)

Ulaanbaatar Flour Mill is owned by Tavan Bogd Group.  They currently have 2 mill sites (1km apart) 4km west of the centre of Ulaanbaatar.  By early 2012 they hope to open another mill in the city of Darkhan, 219km north of Ulaanbaatar (on the railway line from Russia to China).

Maintenance

Monthly capital maintenance on mill equipment. There is also an engineer and mechanics on at all times.

Brick

For information on Mongolia Milling contact details, please see the following link: 

4.5 Mongolia Storage and Milling Company Contact List