Auto & Transportation

On March 22nd, a roll on/roll off ship carrying 3000 domestic brand new energy vehicles slowly departed from the Nansha Automobile Terminal and set sail overseas. As of March 21st, the number of cars declared for export in the Nansha Pilot Free Trade Zone this year has exceeded 39000, a year-on-year increase of over 1.6 times.

The increase in exports of domestically produced new energy vehicles is partly due to our own brand actively exploring the international trade market, and our business strategy has shifted from focusing on the domestic market to emphasizing both domestic and foreign markets. On the other hand, due to the continuous improvement of domestic automotive product strength, the demand for orders has also increased. "Zhang Bojia, Deputy Director of the International Logistics Project Team of Zhongdu Logistics Co., Ltd., who is responsible for the automotive export logistics business, told reporters, Since the beginning of this year, the company's automobile exports to various ports in China have been continuously increasing.

In recent years, domestic vehicles, including new energy vehicles, have not only gained increasing influence domestically but also gained a foothold in the international trade market. Behind the acceleration of domestic cars' "going to sea" is the strong support of the logistics supply chain. The speed of goods clearance and production delivery capacity have become the key for enterprises to seize new markets.

The 'Green Channel' on the New Track

On March 13, eight general cargo ships were berthed at the 61-69 dock of Port of Lianyungang Oriental Port Company. Under the supervision of Lianyungang Customs officers, batches of domestic vehicles were being loaded in order, and were about to "sail" to the United Arab Emirates and other countries along the "the Belt and Road".

The continuous efforts of domestic car brands in independent research and development, product design and manufacturing have accelerated the pace of domestic cars such as SAIC MG and Chery going global. The Lianyungang Port, which seized the opportunity of domestic cars' going to sea ', has also become one of the three major ports for the export of mechanical equipment and vehicles in China.

In addition to its hardware advantages such as good location, multiple routes, and convenient transportation, Lianyungang Port's convenient and efficient customs clearance speed, continuously optimized business environment, and high-quality Ro/Ro operation supporting services are also important considerations for more and more car companies to choose to "sail" from Lianyungang Port.

Xu He, General Manager of Dongfang Company of Port Holding Group, believes that "Thanks to the 24-hour quarantine operation at Lianyungang Port and the convenient procedures for handling entry and exit ship procedures, foreign trade ships can enter and exit quickly, improving the berth turnover capacity of the port, and the average time of ships at the port is compressed by more than 50%

In response to the actual needs of enterprises with large export volumes and high customs clearance time requirements, Lianyungang Customs has learned in advance about the automobile export plan and the berthing time of foreign ships, opened up a "green channel" for export vehicles to enter, implemented reform and innovation measures such as "early declaration" and "direct loading upon arrival", and improved the speed of vehicle release. In the first two months of this year, Lianyungang Customs ensured that enterprises exported 49408 sets of mechanical equipment and vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 82.6%.

"Next, we will continue to reduce the customs clearance time of entry and exit vehicles of international navigation ships and export vehicles, support the construction of special storage sites for port vehicles, connect and guide the three-dimensional garage project of the port automobile green intelligent logistics center, improve the storage capacity of port vehicles, ensure the export of vehicles with full chain services, and help domestic vehicles to travel smoothly along the the Belt and Road," said Sun Xiaobin, director of Lianyungang Customs' port office.

The Exit from Home

At about 12:00 on March 8, the Yangtze River barge "Min Wen Hao" carried 807 cars from Wuhu Port, Anhui, down the Yangtze River and arrived at Haitong Wharf, Waigaoqiao Port District, Shanghai, at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Subsequently, these cars will be loaded onto foreign trade export ships and shipped to the international trade market.

Since last year, there has been a significant increase in domestic trade ships shuttling between Waigaoqiao Port Area and various ports in the Yangtze River Delta, thanks to the "water water intermodal" model. The ports along the Yangtze River are connected to Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port, and domestic cars are unloaded and transported from domestic trade ships, triggering release instructions, and can then be rolled onto foreign trade ships. This direct and economical transportation method and convenient customs clearance policy have attracted many car companies to "switch land to water".

It is reported that through the efficient coordination of customs supervision policies and port terminals, international trade export vehicles can handle customs declaration procedures in the jurisdiction where the enterprise is located. After being transported by domestic trade ships to Waigaoqiao Port Area, release procedures can be processed and they can be directly carried by ocean freight ships to leave the country. In the first two months of this year, the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port Customs supervised a total of 55000 export vehicles for "water water intermodal transportation", accounting for 34% of the total export volume.

The convenience of loading and unloading mode has added assistance to the cost reduction and efficiency increase of domestic car exports, which has benefited many car companies, including BYD. As an important new energy vehicle production and research and development base for BYD in the East China region, the first phase of BYD's Changzhou base project has exceeded 28 billion yuan in output value since its production in 2022. Recently, a batch of BYD new energy vehicles were loaded onto barges after customs clearance at the Luanzhou Port in Changzhou, and then shipped overseas to Shanghai via waterway.

To ensure timely clearance of vehicles, Changzhou Customs guides enterprises to rely on the nearby Changzhou Port as the departure port platform, and transport them to Shanghai's outer port through foreign trade waterway transit. Under this logistics model, enterprises can use their own containers at Changzhou Port, eliminating the need to transport containers to load goods from other ports, improving container usage efficiency. Enterprises can set sail at their doorstep, seize progress, and stabilize orders.

The dock environment is humid, and there is a risk of corrosion at the site of long-term storage of exported new energy vehicles. We will coordinate the inspection of exported vehicles as soon as possible, "according to Jiang Lin, the head of the Cargo Inspection Department of Changzhou Customs. In response to the characteristics of automotive products, the customs has grasped the key points of declaration and inspection in advance, established dedicated windows to provide customs clearance guidance and business consulting services, optimized regulatory models, implemented services such as "pre inspection", and ensured that new energy product exports are "inspected upon arrival and released upon inspection".

In addition, Changzhou Customs vigorously promotes customs clearance facilitation measures such as "early declaration" and "two-step declaration", guiding enterprises to handle goods import and export procedures through a "single window" of international trade, achieving paperless processing of the entire process of declaration. On the other hand, actively establish a liaison and communication mechanism with production enterprises, customs declaration logistics companies and terminal companies, smooth the information flow of all export links, and help enterprises improve their ability to deal with cargo shipment risks caused by uncontrollable reasons such as shipping date adjustment, delay and change.