Breaking 62 billion yuan! The regulatory model of "inspection before shipment" helps small commodities expand overseas (picture)
The picture shows customs officers conducting inspections of the export LCL warehouse. Photo by Zhu Jiana
On September 8th, in the Baijie Port Supervision Warehouse in Meishan Port Area, Zhoushan Port, Ningbo, various types of loose cargo such as mechanical and electrical accessories, home hardware, and festival supplies were neatly stacked. Under the supervision of Meishan Customs under Ningbo Customs, inspection, release, and loading are carried out efficiently throughout the process. The fully loaded container ship is ready to depart from Zhoushan Port in Ningbo and sail to various parts of the world.
In recent years, the market pattern of the foreign trade industry has continued to change, with new formats such as market procurement and cross-border e-commerce maintaining a high-speed development trend. Foreign trade orders have shown a new trend of small batches, multiple batches, and fast turnover in the industry. In the past, LCL export goods represented by Yiwu small commodities encountered prominent practical problems such as difficulty in finding and reloading after inspection. In order to optimize the business environment at the port and facilitate more flexible and efficient consolidation and export for enterprises, Ningbo Customs has learned from the "Yiwu Development Experience", leveraged export convenience through reform of small incisions, and continuously promoted the innovation of the "inspection before shipment" regulatory model. From January to August this year, under the "inspection before shipment" mode supervised by Ningbo Customs, a total of 142000 TEUs were exported with a value of over 62.65 billion yuan.
We are a supporting facility for Amazon Logistics' pre warehouse, and most of the goods are LCL bulk cargo. Previously, goods loaded in containers were inspected upon arrival at the port, which was time-consuming, labor-intensive, and prone to delays in shipping schedules. Since the implementation of the 'inspection before shipment' model, customs clearance time has been significantly reduced, and logistics costs have significantly decreased, "said Yu Xufeng, Executive Vice General Manager of Ningbo Yaji Logistics Co., Ltd.
Ningbo Customs has optimized the pre warehouse supervision process, moving the inspection process forward to before the packing operation, and continuously expanding the pilot scope of the "inspection before shipment" mode. At the same time, by developing an information management system and connecting it with the on-site goods storage management system, combined with video surveillance, on-site inspections, and spot checks and verifications, actual goods supervision is carried out. In April, Ningbo Customs, together with local authorities, released a special action plan for cross-border trade facilitation in 2026, introducing 24 specific measures, including deepening and expanding the pilot program of "inspection before shipment" based on the actual situation in Ningbo, continuously stimulating the vitality of foreign trade market entities through smarter supervision, more collaborative governance, and more convenient services.
Cao Wenqing, Deputy Director of the Logistics Monitoring Department of Meishan Customs, said, "Currently, there are 15 customs supervision sites in Ningbo that have the function of exporting LCL. Based on the location advantage of Ningbo Port, we have accurately solved the pain points of the LCL export industry. On the premise of strictly adhering to the bottom line of national supervision and building a strong risk prevention and control line, we continue to compress the clearance time and reduce the transaction costs of enterprises
Next, Ningbo Customs will continue to iterate and optimize the "inspection before shipment" supervision mode, continuously improve the intelligent and refined supervision service system, and further facilitate cross-border trade for small and medium-sized enterprises. By continuously deepening the coordination and linkage of Yongyi Port, deeply integrating the shipping advantages of Ningbo Port with the market and industrial advantages of Yiwu and other places, we will fully assist small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises in stabilizing orders, expanding markets, and enhancing vitality, and continuously contribute to the high-quality development and high-level opening-up of Zhejiang's foreign trade.