Zhengzhou customs to promote central China's opening-up

The customs clearance center in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province. [Photo: China Plus/Huang Yue]

Since the implementation of nationwide customs clearance procedures in July, suggestions are that imports and exports have been increasing rapidly through Zhengzhou Customs in Henan's provincial capital.

CRI's Huang Yue has more.

As the birthplace of the Chinese civilization, central China's Henan Province has been home to a number of ancient capitals throughout China's dynastic history.

Today, the provincial capital Zhengzhou continues to be a major intersection, but instead of horses and foot traffic, the city is now a hub for highways, railways and airlines, making it one of the key centers in China for imports and exports.

With the rapid development of the transportation network, Zhengzhou Customs is playing a more important role in the opening-up of the landlocked province.

Sun Yuning is the Director of the Zhengzhou Customs District.

"Customs is a policy-implementation department. We need to keep adapting our procedures and making innovations in our working patterns to adapt to the economic developments in China."

Sun Yuning, Director of the Zhengzhou Customs District [Photo: China Plus/Huang Yue]

With the new simplified clearance procedures, around five million pieces of cargo are cleared by Zhengzhou Customs every day.

Zhengzhou East Railway Station is a terminus for a China-Europe freight train which travels through central Asia and Europe to the port of Hamburg, Germany.

Wu Yanyan is a customs agent at the station.

"The China-Europe freight train runs directly from Hamburg to Zhengzhou and isn't be held up on its way, except for the customs clearance procedures after it arrives here. Previously, the trip took nearly 20 days. But since we've simplified the process and accelerated the customs clearance, the whole trip has been shortened to around two weeks."

The new customs procedures were put in place across China in July.

The system integrates the entire country on unified system, so each customs area in the country can access information about goods which are moving in and out of China at any location.

Lin Lumei with the Henan Bonded Logistics Center says this makes the process much quicker.

"Compared to customs in other countries, we don't need to check their clearance files. What's more, the clients used to have to print the tax receipt and go to the bank to pay the fees, but now they can use electronic payments."

The Chinese government has laid out plans to turn Zhengzhou into a regional logistics hub, with plans to direct most of the country's freight air traffic to the city.

This is expected to ease pressure on customs throughout the rest of China, particularly in China's busy coastal areas.

For CRI, this is Huang Yue.