On September 15, a container vessel with 25 tons of fresh oranges from South Africa berthed at Ningbo Beilun Container Terminal (NBCT) Ⅳ, Ningbo Port. Those fresh oranges were kept in refrigerated containers in which constant temperature was set to -1.5℃. After discharged from the vessel, the containers were directly transited from the Container Terminal to Ningbo Port Cold-Chain logistics Center, which was based on the “Transition to Control Venue” model newly launched by Ningbo Customs District, marking the formal start there to utilize the Cold-Chain Logistics Center for Customs control.

Located in Modern International Logistics Park of Ningbo Economic and Technical Development Zone, the Cold-Chain Logistics Center is Ningbo’s only cold-chain controlling venue with port functions. Just accepted by the Customs District in July, this Center, with a180m-long low-temperature hallway suitable for unpacked inspection, enables an entire low-temperature process for inward frozen/refrigerated cargos from their arrival at port till access to refrigeration storage, thus achieving a seamless link between containers and refrigeration storage to avoid interruption of low-temperature control.

In order to support cold-chain industry, the Customs District, based on control model innovation and Customs-CIQ “3-Singles” Cooperation, has assigned full-time staff to onsite services in enterprises and put up service reservation for holidays and festivals.

Ningbo QiMao Import & Export Co., Ltd., the importer of those oranges, ever importing via Shanghai Port, acknowledged that the Cold-Chain Logistics Center has met the requirements on frozen/refrigerated cargo clearance. Its General Manager Ni Xiaowei said, “the inbound cargo can be transited into the cold-chain control venue within one day and be inspected in refrigeration storage, without exposure to normal temperature. Such a process not only brings us higher efficiency and lower cost but also gets us more confident to expand our import via Ningbo.”