Guangdong's Free Trade Zone has implemented a number of policies to improve efficiency and facilitate trade since it opened its doors last April. Cutting edge internet technologies and innovative mechanisms have helped export and import businesses in the Nansha New area experience rapid growth.
Qu Yanqian works as an Inspection-and-Quarantine and Customs agent. Her job got alot easier after Nansha's Intelligent Port program launched last year. Today, she uses online platforms to prepare documents and declare products for her customers.
"We used to print all of the required documents and then present them to the Inspection and Quarantine Department. It took a long time, but now through this online platform, we can declare things 24 hours a day. We don't have to go to the department with paper documents anymore. It is same for the Customs Clearance process," Qu said.
After all the documents are finished online, containers are sent to the local Entry-exit Inspection and Quarantine bureau.
In 2015, the Bureau built an intelligent public service platform that allows companies to declare containers online. An intelligent supervision system can determine in a matter of seconds whether a container needs to be inspected or not.
"This is an innovative mechanism incorporating risk management and integrity management. With the help of big data analysis and cloud computing, this intelligent public service platform can guarantee inspections without human interference," Liu Jianjun, deputy director of Nansha Entry-Exit inspection and Quarantine Bureau, said.
Liu Jiajun said if a company with a good record declares low risk commodities, most of those containers will be released within 1 minute. This has improved company efficiency 80 folds.
After the Inspection, containers are transported to Nansha's Customs House. The local Customs House also launched an Internet plus Customs Clearance system last October that allows companies to clear Customs online.
The new process saves companies time and money.
"Take the cost for Customs clearance for example, using the new system saves a customer about 650 yuan for each 40 foot container. And our statistics show that our efficiency is up by 50 percent," Liu said.
In the past it could take three to four days to declare a container at the Inspection-and-Quarantine and Customs bureaus, but now processing times have been reduced to within an hour.
With a hub with internet technology, high-tech equipment and innovative mechanisms boost Nanshan customers ...import and export with lower cost, the trade volume here has seen a significant increase.
In 2015, import and export volumes in Nansha reached over 152 billion yuan, an 18 percent year on year increase. So far Nansha New Area has put over 30 innovative measures into practice. Now that the Free trade zone has proven these innovative technologies and measures work, other cities have started using them as well.
