Beijing and Tianjin have jointly launched 33 policies to facilitate cross-border trade since March this year and plan to handle customs clearance for companies through a single service window next year, according to Yan Ligang, director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce.
In line with the new policies issued on March 18, the approval time for automatic import and export licenses issued by the two cities has decreased from 3-5 working days to 1 working day. Beijing has issued over 4,700 licenses to more than 600 companies since the new policy came into effect.
In addition, the average import clearance time for Beijing companies at Tianjin Customs was shortened to 7.53 hours, 7.67 hours shorter than the previous 15.2 hours. The average export clearance time was shortened to 0.27 hours, 0.57 hours shorter than the previous 0.84 hours.
According to Yan, container logistics at Tianjin Port has significantly quickened, with the average operating time of container ships not exceeding 20 hours. Moreover, 400-500 yuan (US$60.54-75.67) and 12-24 hours can be saved per container.
Beijing will also cooperate with Hebei to construct the New Airport economic zone and set up a comprehensive bonded area in the zone.
