Express deliveries cleared with extra zip
The latest technology and flexible arrangements have been widely used in customs clearance procedures in Shenzhen to improve the smooth flow of goods worldwide.
Shenzhen Customs set up 12 smart sorting lines at the southern Chinese city’s new international express operation center, which opened in October last year to handle all international express shipments into and out of the city.
The customs office also worked out a risk analysis system that can automatically approve standard express packages, which usually account for 95 percent of all deliveries dispatched from the center.
It takes a standard express delivery just 22 seconds to pass the clearance, customs figures show.
The remaining 5 percent, which are suspected to have some issues, will be checked at a dedicated venue to decide whether they can be passed, which can improve efficiency, according to the customs office.
For the express companies, which have experienced fast growth in their global business, night time is a prime time to increase their goods flow rate.
Shenzhen Customs has introduced 24-hour clearance to the operation center to meet these rising demands.
“The 24-hour arrangement is exactly what we want, which works to improve our core competitiveness in the global market,” said Huang Chuxu, a customs specialist at SF Express, China’s largest private express logistics firm.
Time spent on express clearance was reduced by one-third in 2017 compared with a year earlier with daily handling number reaching 170,000 pieces on average, customs data indicate.
Another important reform by Shenzhen Customs took place in the Qianhai bonded zone.
Starting from last June, exports from different parts of China can be shipped directly to Hong Kong International Airport, from which they will be transported to their final destination, as long as they can pass the customs examination in the bonded zone.
The move made Qianhai in Shenzhen an express conduit to connect domestic goods to global markets, according to Shenzhen Customs.
It is able to save the logistics time by one-fourth and reduce costs by one-third for e-commercial companies, customs figures show.