Customs administrations located in the Silk Road Economic Belt in China started to execute the reform grogram on integrated clearance on May 1, 2015. Under the reform framework, Customs administrations in that area will become members of a clearance cluster that boosts a standardized, fast and efficient clearance. The reform program, which works on the idea of mutual recognition of controls, literally turns the 10 Customs districts located in the Silk Road Economic Belt into “one”. On the day when the reform started (which was the first day of the “International Workers’ Day” Holiday in China), Shidao Port in Rongcheng ( county-level ) city in Shandong Province saw the arrival and leaving of a passenger/cargo liner that traveled between Shidao New Port and Incheon,Korea.

“With the regional integrated clearance model, we can choose by ourselves the port for declaration, the way of clearance and the venue for inspection. The connectivity of logistics and the electronic release in the 10 Customs districts can greatly reduce our operational cost”, said Yuan Guozhi, a manager of Weihai Huaxin Freight & Forwarding Co., Ltd.

To ensure there would be an efficient clearance for the international liners under the new regional integrated clearance model, Rongcheng Customs House (affiliated to Qingdao Customs District), after switching to the appropriate clearance system, provided high quality services throughout the whole clearance process and established a Customs-enterprise liaison mechanism to solve the problems that the enterprises might encounter in the declaration and clearance process. With all these efforts, Customs officers tried to help stakeholders get higher returns from the reform.

According to the statistics, officers of Rongcheng Customs House has exercised control over vessels for 14 shifts, 800 TEUs and passengers for around 3000 shifts on this year’s International Workers’ Day” Holiday.