At the end of last month, the customs clearance channel from Yiwu Railway Port’s consolidation warehouse to the customs transfer point in the Zhoushan Port area was successfully opened. This has significantly improved clearance efficiency and reduced manual packing costs. With the new mode, exporting can proceed more efficiently. On the morning of December 21st, the head of the cargo yard at Zhejiang Botai International Freight Forwarding Company, Mr. Lou Yonghao, expressed great confidence, stating, ‘I heard that this regulatory model is about to be upgraded to version 2.0 soon, and the Yiwu government is really supportive.’

The mentioned new mode is the pioneering “inspect before shipment” regulatory model piloted by Yiwu nationwide. Due to the diverse types and small quantities of export goods in Yiwu, a consolidation method is commonly used. However, this method often results in challenges such as delays in shipping due to inspection of a single shipment, difficulties in unloading containers, and challenges in finding and repacking goods after inspection. Since the start of the themed education initiative, Hangzhou Customs, Yiwu Customs, and Yiwu International Land Port Group have conducted numerous on-site investigations and coordinated communications. They innovatively proposed the reform idea of pre-inspection and incorporated this reform into inter-provincial cooperation projects.

Inspecting before packing integrates storage and regulatory functions, preventing delays in shipping schedules and additional unloading costs caused by inspecting goods from the same batch. The Yiwu Land Port Railway Port Company, which operates this project, has held 38 joint meetings with enterprises and explored 42 optimizations of operational processes. Through consolidation warehouse operations, the clearance efficiency has increased by 26% compared to traditional methods, and manual costs have decreased by 10%.

“If this new mode can also establish a customs transfer channel to the Zhoushan Port area, it would reduce costs and increase efficiency for both customers and businesses.” During the “Four Double Thousand” activities, Botai Company raised new requirements to the Land Port Railway Port Company. The company promptly communicated and coordinated with Yiwu Customs, Hangzhou Data Center, and other relevant units to outline the specific path for realizing the customs transfer business from Yiwu to the Zhoushan Port area, solving difficulties one by one. After several trial shipments, the entire business process was successfully opened in just 21 days, achieving full-scale exports from Ningbo Port and Zhoushan Port consolidation warehouses.

“This model is currently being promoted nationwide, but according to feedback from enterprises, relevant processes can be further optimized. We are actively advancing the iteration and upgrade of the consolidation warehouse 2.0.” said Bi Fei, Deputy General Manager of Yiwu Land Port Railway Port Company.

Currently, Yiwu is making every effort to be approved as a new round of international trade reform pilot. Since the start of the second themed education initiative, Yiwu has integrated the theme education with the study and implementation of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches during his inspection of Zhejiang and his guidance on Jinhua and Yiwu. It aims to deepen and implement the themed education through high-quality investigations and research.

The city adheres to a problem-oriented, goal-oriented, and results-oriented approach, strengthens overall coordination, focuses on key issues, revisits and rectifies, strictly controls quality and efficiency, and prioritizes research and rectification. A total of 32 issues led by the leadership team and 305 departmental issues have been identified. Among them, “the comprehensive reform pilot system for promoting a new round of international trade is not smooth, the goals are not clear, and the work is not practical enough” is identified as a key area for rectification. Yiwu City Committee leaders took the lead in addressing this issue, accelerating breakthroughs in “buying globally” and deepening iterations in “selling globally.” They are concurrently promoting reforms in the pilot free trade zone, vigorously optimizing the business environment.

Since the beginning of this year, seven reforms, including the “inspect before shipment” regulatory model for exporting consolidated cargo, have been selected as provincial innovative cases for the 2023 Zhejiang Free Trade Zone. The business environment assessment has ranked first in Zhejiang’s counties and cities for three consecutive years, with a total of over a million market entities. Applications such as the upgraded “Zhe Market Y Code Governance” have been iterated, promoting brand globalization, constructing a new digital trade ecosystem, and continuously tackling challenges to integrate more effectively into the domestic and international dual cycles while accelerating “buying and selling globally” at a higher level.