Chinese 'prefabricated houses' cross the ocean to build' new homes' (picture)

The picture shows customs officers conducting physical supervision on the export of "prefabricated house" modules. Photo by Lv Wencheng

On August 13th, a batch of 63 modular prefabricated houses were ready for shipment at Yantai Port in Shandong Province. They will cross over 10000 nautical miles on a China Africa liner and arrive on the African continent. After arriving at the destination, simple hoisting and splicing are required, and office buildings, mining camps, and staff dormitories can be quickly put into use. Nowadays, China's modular prefabricated houses that meet the infrastructure needs of Africa are accelerating their overseas expansion along the golden channel of two-way logistics between China and Africa, becoming a fresh carrier of China Africa infrastructure cooperation.

Behind the booming orders is the precise fit of China's "prefabricated houses" with the huge infrastructure gap in Africa. Africa's urbanization continues to advance, with strong demand for housing, mining facilities, and public buildings. However, there is a shortage of skilled construction workers in the area, and traditional construction methods are prone to delays due to the rainy season.

From the practical business of our customs declaration agency, in the past two years, there have been more and more orders of 'prefabricated houses' sent to Africa, and overseas customers value its advantages of fast construction and short construction period. "Chen Wei, a customs declaration agent of Shandong Hongcheng Logistics Co., Ltd., introduced that China has a complete industrial chain of' prefabricated houses', from steel structure skeleton to fireproof insulation materials. More than 90% of the construction operations are completed in the factory, which is not restricted by weather conditions, and balances high cost-effectiveness and flexible customization, providing an efficient and feasible construction solution for African countries.

Thousands of miles out to sea, escorted by customs clearance. Large prefabricated building modules and other large cargo units have a large size and high dismantling and inspection costs, which can easily delay the construction period of African projects once they are stranded in port. To facilitate the smooth export of miscellaneous goods along the Central African logistics channel, Yantai Customs under Qingdao Customs, in conjunction with the port department, has tailored a customs clearance plan based on strict supervision of the bottom line.

We focus on the pain points of customs clearance, innovate the implementation of the 'classified supervision, pre tallying, centralized inspection' mode, and implement convenient measures such as early declaration and appointment for customs clearance, realizing the 'immediate inspection and release of goods upon arrival', significantly reducing the clearance time and effectively reducing the comprehensive cost of enterprise clearance and logistics. "Lv Wencheng, the head of the Inspection Department II of Yantai Customs Port Office, introduced that before the reform, it took 5 to 6 days for single ship cargo clearance inspection, but now through innovative supervision mode, the single ship inspection time has been compressed to 2 to 3 days.

We fully leverage the advantages of the logistics hub port for general cargo in northern China, and use the 'revolving water' model to gather 'prefabricated houses' produced from all over the country at Yantai Port, and then ship them overseas from here, "said Liu Xin, the organizer of the Yantai Port Production Business Department. With a sound route layout and distribution system, Yantai Port accurately connects the entire chain logistics channel from the factory area to overseas end users, promoting deep linkage between domestic and foreign markets and upstream and downstream enterprises.

Customs is leading a joint effort with ports, border inspection and other port units to explore a new model of "one-stop" intelligent supervision for "code on" general cargo, promoting a second leap in regulatory efficiency and assisting in the high-quality development of China Africa trade, "said Yu Jianbo, Deputy Director of the Yantai Customs Port Office. (Gao Zhenzhen, Cai Ziyang/Text)