Seasonal pontoon passage linking China, Russia opens to traffic

A temporary pontoon passage across the China-Russia border, which connects Luobei County of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province with Russia's Amurzet, opened to traffic on Friday to facilitate transportation between the two countries in winter.

The pontoon passage is a temporary river crossing facility, typically used during the winter when the river is frozen. It usually consists of multiple connected floating units to form a transport route on the ice surface.

The pontoon passage connecting Luobei and Amurzet is composed of 34 floating units with a total length of more than 900 meters. With the passage, it takes only five minutes by car to travel between the two places.

To further facilitate the cross-border transportation, local authorities in Luobei set up a "one-stop" customs clearance mechanism, allowing the vehicles to be inspected upon arrival to maximize the efficiency of customs clearance.

"We have frequent business exchanges with Russia on the other side, and the opening of this freight pontoon channel is really convenient. It takes only five minutes to get to Russia, which is time-saving and labor-saving for us," said Zhang Shuai, a passenger who is taking a cross-border bus to Russia.

The construction of the pontoon passage greatly enhanced the transportation capacity of Luobei Port, especially during the winter, allowing it to operate year-round.

Seasonal pontoon passage linking China, Russia opens to traffic

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Thursday that it would slash key interest rates by 25 basis points in a bid to wind down the restrictive monetary policy.

Effective from March 12, the interest rates on the deposit facility, the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility will be decreased to 2.50 percent, 2.65 percent and 2.90 percent respectively, said the central bank in a statement.

The disinflation process is well on track, with headline inflation averaging 2.3 percent in 2025, 1.9 percent in 2026 and 2.0 percent in 2027, the ECB said.

The decision to keep on cutting rates came at a time when the economy in the eurozone is facing increasing uncertainties.

In its latest edition of the staff projections on Thursday, the ECB lowered its forecast for economic growth in the eurozone to 0.9 percent for 2025, 1.2 percent for 2026 and 1.3 percent for 2027.

This marks a downward revision from the ECB's forecast in December last year, which had projected 1.1 percent growth in 2025 and 1.4 percent in 2026, while the 2027 outlook remains unchanged.

The ECB attributed the weaker growth outlook for 2025 and 2026 to declining exports and sluggish investment, citing high trade policy uncertainty and broader economic instability as key factors.

ECB cuts interest rates by 25 basis points