Guomen Times: 'Airport Express' empowers cross-border e-commerce clearance to accelerate further
On March 23rd, at the Chengdu Shuangliu Airport International Express Center, a truck loaded with cross-border e-commerce export goods passed through the park checkpoint. The intelligent lock automatically sealed and the checkpoint lever was lifted to release. About an hour later, the truck arrived at the international cargo area of Tianfu Airport. After the system automatically judged that there were no abnormalities in the transit trajectory, the intelligent lock was immediately unlocked.
This is a microcosm of the "24/7, zero waiting" customs clearance of cross-border e-commerce export goods at Chengdu Airport Port. As an important hub for cross-border e-commerce in the southwest region, Shuangliu Airport International Express Center and Chengdu Tianfu International Airport jointly form the core matrix for the coordinated development of Chengdu Airport Port's "two in one" strategy. A large number of cross-border e-commerce export goods need to be transferred from Shuangliu Airport International Express Center to Chengdu Tianfu International Airport for export. In the past, when transferring customs, companies had to go through two declarations, multiple connections, and relied on manual locking and unlocking, which limited the time frame, "said the person in charge of Sichuan Huitong Tianxia Logistics Co., Ltd. The high timeliness requirements, multiple declaration processes, and difficult in transit supervision were once the "bottlenecks" that restricted Chengdu's cross-border e-commerce goods from going global.
Focusing on the expectations of enterprises and regulatory needs, Chengdu Customs insists on doing good things and doing practical things well. Together with local governments, they have launched the "Airport Express" model, which connects logistics data from multiple links such as customs and stations, and connects cross-border e-commerce lists, manifests, and intelligent locks systems, achieving a qualitative change from "manual process" to "data channel". In this mode, the customs has broken through the logistics data barriers of stations, e-commerce, and regulatory systems. The system can capture logistics information in real time and automatically generate pre declaration forms, achieving "one-time entry and full line reuse".
The core of the reform is' minimal intervention and fast customs clearance ', "said the person in charge of Chengdu Shuangliu Airport Customs under Chengdu Customs. With the intelligent customs lock equipped with video surveillance and GPS positioning functions, the customs has achieved full process closed-loop supervision of goods'' exit, transit, and entry ', achieving" precise supervision and controllable risks ".
The "gold content" of reform is ultimately reflected in the sense of achievement of enterprises. Since its launch in July 2025, the "Airport Express" model has benefited over 95% of transportation services, saving customs clearance time of more than 1 hour per trip and accumulating nearly 6000 tons of cross-border e-commerce goods. The "two in one" collaborative transportation capacity of Chengdu Airport Port has been significantly enhanced. In 2025, the cross-border e-commerce export volume of Chengdu Shuangliu Airport International Express Center will increase by 33% year-on-year. In January 2026, this model was registered through the General Administration of Customs' Free Trade Innovation Measures and selected as the ninth batch of best practice cases in the Sichuan Pilot Free Trade Zone.
The 'Airport Express' model is a vivid practice of Chengdu Customs empowering regulatory services with smart customs construction, as well as a vivid practice of Chengdu Customs empowering smart supervision with data and driving cost reduction and efficiency improvement with innovation, "said the person in charge of Chengdu Customs Port Supervision Department.