Reform of customs clearance mode for Inner Mongolia China Europe freight trains to improve efficiency

At the Erenhot Railway Port in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, containers are arranged in a straight line at the loading yard. Wang Maili, the head of the Railway Supervision Department of Erlian Customs, pointed to a row of manifest data in the business system and said that the goods of this China Europe freight train were already inspected when they were packed in Sichuan. After arriving at the port, the customs only need to check the manifest for accuracy to release them, and they can leave the country within 24 hours.

This efficient customs clearance scene is staged every day at the border railway ports in Inner Mongolia. As a key gateway for the China Europe freight trains, Inner Mongolia had 6354 China Europe freight trains from January to July this year, a year-on-year increase of 23.6% and accounting for 48.9% of the national total. Its transit scale continues to rank first in the country. Behind the massive scale of nearly half of the national trains passing through Inner Mongolia, a customs clearance reform centered on "railway express" is continuously improving the efficiency of China Europe trains.

In the past, the China Europe freight trains used a customs transfer mode, and companies had to go through two procedures, "Wang Maili said. In the past, when shipping goods from domestic origin stations, a customs transfer form had to be submitted to the local customs for approval and release. After arriving at the port, another verification procedure had to be completed. The "Railway Express" model currently being promoted relies on direct data connection and mutual recognition between customs and railway departments, eliminating the need for customs transfer documents. At present, the rapid transit application rate of exported goods at the Erenhot railway port has reached over 85%.

On the east side of the channel, efficiency is also being improved. Manzhouli Customs relies on the railway port logistics intelligent supervision platform to connect the data links between customs, railways, and stations, accurately locate and control the physical location of containers, and achieve "one declaration, one inspection, one release". Goods can be directly loaded and shipped upon arrival, greatly reducing the turnover cycle of border inversion and warehousing, and saving logistics costs for foreign trade enterprises.

The innovation of customs clearance mode promotes the forward movement of regulatory checkpoints to the inland hinterland. In the past, local goods from Inner Mongolia had to be transported in whole trains to the Erenhot port, which is over 300 kilometers away, for customs clearance after gathering in Hohhot. In the past, when customs clearance was carried out at the port, once the control inspection was triggered, the goods had to be unloaded on site, which not only took a long time, but also made it easier to break up the train and delay shipment, "said Chen Qiang, deputy director of the customs supervision workshop at Shaliang Logistics Park.

The turning point began in 2023 when the customs supervision operation site of Shaliang Logistics Park was put into use in Hohhot, and Saihan Customs moved the supervision checkpoint to the shipping location. Relying on the "Railway Express" and scheduled customs clearance, inspection and supervision can be completed within 24 hours, and the goods can be released directly without stopping after arriving at the port. In the first half of this year, Saihan Customs supervised 22 trains with a total value of 380 million yuan; Hohhot City has shipped 87 China Europe (Central Asia) trains, a year-on-year increase of 35%, with 3 new return routes added.

Zhang Jingzhou, Deputy Director of Hohhot Customs, stated that in the next step, the customs will closely focus on the construction of an important gateway for Inner Mongolia's northward opening, rely on the construction of smart customs to comprehensively promote convenient models such as the "Railway Express" of the China Europe freight train, deepen the coordinated supervision of "ports+territories", promote the "one-stop system" of multimodal transport, continue to clear customs checkpoints for freight trains, reduce logistics costs, and help accelerate the transformation of transit channel advantages into hub economy and industrial advantages.