Yongpai Observation | The "113 Code" for Ningbo's Open Transformation

The Central and Eastern European Expo held in Ningbo is also a major window for the opening up of the service industry.

Yongpai Client Reporter Dan Yu Zifeng Correspondent Li Sibing Chen Kang
　　   
In the maintenance workshop of Ningbo Free Trade Zone, Peng Xiaodan, the general manager of Saili Automobile, stared at five DSI6AT transmissions with a look of certainty in his eyes. These core components, which were shipped back from Europe, once left companies helpless due to the long maintenance cycle and high cost of the original factory. Now, relying on the pilot policy of opening up the service industry, local batch maintenance can be completed, with a comprehensive cost reduction of 20%;
In the exhibition hall of Ningbo Xiji Animation, the 3D printed sculpture "From Bit to Molecule" is 2.4 meters tall, majestic and lifelike. Creative Director Wang Zhenxue is demonstrating to visitors, 'What we sell is not sculptures, but a full chain service from digital modeling to physical manufacturing.' With the 'invisible service', there is a continuous stream of negotiators
These scenarios collectively connect the development trajectory of Ningbo as a new batch of comprehensive pilot cities for expanding the opening up of the service industry since April last year.
With the approval of the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce recently issued the "Comprehensive Pilot Tasks for Expanding the Opening up of the Service Industry in 9 Cities including Dalian" (hereinafter referred to as the "Pilot Tasks"), clarifying the list of pilot tasks for 9 new pilot cities including Dalian, Ningbo, Xiamen, Qingdao, Shenzhen, Hefei, Fuzhou, Xi'an, and Suzhou.
This task list includes both universal "common tasks" as a foundation and targeted "individual exploration" to break through the barriers. Among them, 106 public lists have established the "four beams and eight pillars" of institutional openness, and built a unified open framework for 9 pilot cities; The 7 exclusive tasks are tailored specifically for Ningbo, deeply anchoring the urban endowment of advanced manufacturing and cross-border trade.
The 113 heavy "national level tasks" clearly require Ningbo to take the benchmark position of the "first echelon" of service industry opening up, forcing the city to further leap from "goods opening up" to "service opening up", and shoulder the vanguard responsibility of an economic city in the wave of institutional opening up.
Ningbo task: Deepen and solidify the advantages of the city
This is not a simple policy overlay, "said the relevant person in charge of the Municipal Bureau of Commerce." Compared with other cities, the most distinctive feature of Ningbo is that it integrates the core advantage of 'advanced manufacturing+cross-border trade' throughout the differentiated exploration of pilot tasks
The "Pilot Task" clearly states that it supports Ningbo's integration into and service for the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, and other national strategies, leverages the advantages of advanced manufacturing and cross-border trade development, promotes the standardized and healthy development of new bonded maintenance formats, and explores ways to improve the facilitation of customs clearance for lithium battery product exports.
Responding to the "needs of the country" with the "Director of Ningbo" and focusing on the service industry to expand market access and open up areas, this also provides a strategic opportunity for Ningbo to integrate into the global service value chain, turning every task into visible industrial momentum.
The 'repair breakthrough' of Saili Automobile is an early rehearsal for promoting a new form of bonded maintenance. Last September, the first bonded gearbox maintenance project in Zhejiang was launched, and Peng Xiaodan finally solved the dilemma of overseas after-sales service.
In the past, when overseas customers' gearboxes broke down, they either had to pay high prices for urgent repairs or wait for parts for a long time, and many orders were quietly lost. However, the response speed of Ningbo Customs exceeded expectations - staff took the initiative to come to the door, tailor-made the "bonded+ERP" intelligent supervision mode, and workshop work orders and inbound/outbound data were automatically synchronized with the customs system, without the need for manual reporting.
Nowadays, Saili Automobile's maintenance business is on track, and with the addition of companies such as Yongzhong Electronics and PepsiCo Technology, as of the end of last year, the value of bonded maintenance goods in Ningbo Customs District has exceeded 43 million yuan, covering multiple fields such as electronic components and LCD panels. With the addition of categories such as communication base stations and power batteries in the fourth batch of maintenance catalogs, more and more "Ningbo manufacturing" enterprises are extending their value chain from "selling products" to "selling services".
The exclusive task of "AI+manufacturing" has enabled Ningbo enterprises to gain new chips in the global market.
The intelligent sink of Oulin Group is embedded with a "life big model" that can read 15000 Chinese and Western recipes, and can accurately respond with just one sentence of "8-person party menu".
I was originally worried that the compliance process for exporting smart products would be complicated, but I didn't expect that Yinzhou Customs' 'on-demand inspection' would be of great help. "The foreign trade manager of the enterprise revealed that the customs intervened in advance to provide classification guidance, allowing innovative products to go global smoothly.
In clothing factories in Southeast Asia, Shupu Intelligent's fully automatic sewing equipment runs at high speed, allowing for seamless feeding, pressing, and receiving, with an efficiency increase of 3.7 times. The supporting intelligent warehousing system has increased the factory's production capacity by 30%.
The pilot policy has given us the confidence to increase research and development, "said Luo Qian, General Manager of Shupu. Currently, the company has implemented 16 whole plant projects in Vietnam and Cambodia, with a year-on-year increase of 220% in related export projects. The "industrial tailor" intelligent cutting equipment of Jingwei CNC, relying on AI algorithms, has increased material utilization by more than 98%, with exports exceeding 100 million yuan by 2025. Ningbo Customs implements "one enterprise, one policy" to improve inspection efficiency and enable high-end equipment to smoothly enter the European and ASEAN markets.
At the same time, the freight index system of Ningbo Shipping Exchange continues to improve, not only giving "Ningbo prices" more voice in the global shipping market, but also successfully attracting Jiahua Shipping's global headquarters to settle in, achieving a breakthrough of "zero" for the headquarters of the top 100 global shipping companies. The revenue of the Eastern New City Shipping Service Agglomeration Zone ranks first in the province, and Ningbo is accelerating from a "cargo transit port" to a "shipping service hub".
Public List: Let the Open Dividend permeate the entire region
If the 7 Ningbo tasks are multiple-choice questions, then the 106 common tasks are unified exam questions, which are a "dividend toolbox" for accurately matching needs and further benefiting people's livelihoods and industries through opening up.
The core of Ningbo's breakthrough lies in anchoring its own advantages, relying on this "basic configuration" public list, exploring more innovative, distinctive, and high-quality practical experiences along the path of "policy implementation, enterprise benefits, and people's livelihoods" from livelihood scenarios to industrial front lines, from individual enterprises to the overall ecology.
For David Dawei, Vice Dean of the School of Technology at the University of Nottingham Ningbo and a foreign professor, the improvement in living convenience is tangible.
Last year, he received the first "Juying Card" in Ningbo from the Municipal Government Service Center, achieving the integration of work permits and social security cards, greatly reducing the time and cost of obtaining certificates, and improving the convenience of work and life. Nowadays, the public list clearly states "providing visa convenience for foreigners" and "dynamically adjusting the list of overseas professional qualification recognition", coupled with the optimization of "foreign card binding", electronic payments and travel services no longer need to worry about adaptation issues.
The international atmosphere in Ningbo is becoming increasingly strong, making it more convenient for us to receive equal public service treatment as citizens. Mark's experience is based on the continuous optimization of the ecological effect of foreign talents coming from afar.
In the industrial field, the empowering effect of public lists is even more anticipated.
Ningbo people may not be unfamiliar with the pilot program of deepening Qualified Foreign Limited Partners (QFLP). As of now, the Ningbo area of Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone has successfully attracted four QFLP projects, including DeYue and Gaopeng, with a total registered capital of 610 million US dollars. The QFLP pilot program enables foreign investment to easily enter the fields of new energy and digital economy, greatly improving the efficiency of new offshore trade settlement. As the only city in the province with QFLP and QDLP (Qualified Domestic Limited Partner) pilot qualifications, Ningbo should fully leverage its two-way cross-border advantages, attract more equity investment institutions to participate in the pilot, and improve the coordination mechanism between green finance and trade.
In the field of digital trade and cross-border supply chain services, Ningbo is deeply linking the common policies of public lists with its own advantages, exploring a characteristic development path of "digital empowerment+ecological synergy".
As the first major commodity resource allocation hub in China, Ningbo combines general requirements such as "data element circulation" and "cross-border service facilitation" with local demands for digitalization of commodity trade and integration of global supply chains——
Ningbo enterprises have obtained the world's first commodity vLEI digital ID card, upgrading offshore trade verification from "flipping paper documents" to "online one click authentication", and improving document circulation efficiency by 60%;
The transaction volume of urban trusted data space exceeded 580 million yuan. The AI data annotation service of Boden Intelligent docked with international giants such as Intel and Nvidia, and Zhejiang humanoid robot "Navigator 2" entered Türkiye's home appliance factory, making digital services available to the sea both with technical support and practical needs.
The innovative practice of cross-border supply chain services highlights the "Ningbo temperature" of pilot cities.
Last year, during the Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services, the Australian "Zhen'ao" milk powder made an appearance on CCTV. Its Chinese general agent, Ningbo Changxing Culture, integrated overseas brand docking, cold chain logistics, customs clearance and quarantine, and channel distribution full chain services, which is a concrete implementation of the task of "optimizing cross-border supply chain services";
The "Warehouse Brain" of Ningbo Haoya dispatches 600000 square meters of global warehousing and handles tens of thousands of orders daily with zero errors. This ecological solution that empowers enterprises to "go global" has been selected as a national level case and has become a vivid footnote to the "Smart Logistics" policy;
Zhongji Ningbo Group, which has been ranked first in the top 100 service industries in Ningbo for 6 years, has built a comprehensive service platform based on 40 years of foreign trade accumulation, connecting nearly 10000 small and medium-sized enterprises, and opening up the value loop of "international resource organization domestic industry collaboration finished product sales and exports". The import and export volume for the first 11 months of 2025 is 5.47 billion US dollars, transforming the policy of "upgrading comprehensive foreign trade services" into tangible industrial momentum.
Pilot Responsibility: Leading the Future with an Open Attitude
The core of the pilot program is to take the lead in trial, expand market access and open up areas, and explore the way forward for the open and innovative development of the national service industry.
For Ningbo, the 113 pilot tasks are not passive "task books" to undertake, but rather "responsibility letters" to actively shoulder. As an economic city with a stable foreign trade scale ranking fifth in the country and an open hub in the southern wing of the Yangtze River Delta, Ningbo's opening-up practice has always resonated with the national situation, adding color to the overall situation in the exploration of one domain.
This responsibility is hidden in the practical work of departmental collaboration.
The pilot task involves nearly 60 departments. Ningbo did not shirk responsibility, but established a mechanism of "task claim+scenario attack+effectiveness evaluation", coordinated through the executive meeting of the municipal government.
Each task has a leading unit and a list of responsibilities to ensure that policies are not suspended and effective in implementation, "said the person in charge of the Municipal Bureau of Commerce, expressing the hardcore logic of implementing policies in Ningbo.
This responsibility is hidden in the reform spirit of daring to explore and try.
There is no ready-made path for the opening up of the service industry, so Ningbo broke through with the spirit of "bold experimentation and daring exploration"——
The first national regulatory model of "inspection first, shipment later" has doubled the efficiency of cross-border customs clearance;
Innovate "bonded+ERP" intelligent supervision to achieve a precise balance of "streamlining administration";
Build a trustworthy data space in the city to ensure the safe and orderly circulation of data elements.
From "factor flow based opening-up" to "institutional opening-up", from "product going global" to "service going global" and "rule going global", Ningbo has explored the opening up of the national service industry through a series of pioneering practices.
Taking the Jiahua Shipping Global Headquarters introduced last year as an example, according to Ningbo Customs statistics, the "China Europe Express" as its core route has transported 11000 TEUs of goods since its first opening, becoming one of the fast direct routes with stable delivery time and reliable service from the Yangtze River Delta to Northwest Europe. At present, it has been officially upgraded to a biweekly operation, further strengthening its service advantage as a new benchmark for the "Maritime Silk Road" from the Yangtze River Delta to Europe.
Looking ahead to the future, Ningbo's path of opening up is grand and firm.
In the spatial dimension, we will build a dual cycle hub node in the Yangtze River Delta with the power of integration - outward, deepen the service trade cooperation with the "the Belt and Road" co construction countries, and make the "hard hub" of Ningbo Zhoushan Port complement the "soft services" of shipping finance, maritime arbitration, and cross-border data flow; Internally, deeply integrate into the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, replicate and promote the "Ningbo experience" of bonded maintenance, AI+manufacturing, digital trade, etc., and drive the coordinated upgrading of regional service industries;
In the industrial dimension, driven by the dual wheels of "manufacturing+service", we will focus on high-end fields such as shipping finance, biopharmaceutical services, and cross-border data services, continuously extending the industrial chain and value chain, and making the service industry a new growth pole for the construction of modern coastal cities.
In terms of institutional dimension, we will continue to deepen institutional openness in terms of rules, regulations, management, standards, etc. We will actively participate in the formulation of international rules in cutting-edge fields such as cross-border data flow and mutual recognition of digital identities, elevate "Ningbo Practice" to "Ningbo Standards", and provide replicable and promotable samples for the opening up of the national service industry.
The tide surges in the East China Sea, with sails full of wind power.
　　
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There are a total of 7 tasks exclusive to Ningbo, with a particularly distinct background of "advanced manufacturing+cross-border trade"——
Focus on upgrading port shipping services
Support Ningbo Shipping Exchange in exploring the development of freight index derivatives business, improving the "Maritime Silk Road" index system, strengthening the pricing discourse power of ports in the global shipping market, and promoting the advancement of "cargo transit ports" to "shipping service hubs".
Focus on extending the value chain of manufacturing services
On the premise of implementing the "two ends outside" requirement, we support Ningbo to develop new forms of bonded maintenance in the comprehensive bonded zone and pilot free trade zone according to the relevant industry catalog, so that "Made in Ningbo" can expand from simply selling products to extending the service value chain.
Focusing on the facilitation of new energy trade
Support Ningbo to carry out pilot projects for the "Lithium Battery Packaging Product Line Qualification Assessment", "Lithium Battery Recycling Packaging Inspection", and "New Energy Vehicle Power Battery Box Shipping and Export" models, in order to open up efficient channels for the local advantageous lithium battery industry to go global.
Focus on improving the efficiency of cross-border car trade
Support Ningbo to carry out the pilot reform of "two certificates in one" for "Import Certificate of Goods (automobiles, motorcycles)" and "Inspection Form for Imported Motor Vehicles", compress the customs clearance process, reduce trade costs, and enhance the concentration of automobile trade.
Focusing on international rule adaptation and digital trade
Support Ningbo to benchmark international high standard economic and trade rules such as DEPA and CPTPP, explore digital pilot projects for bulk commodity trade, take the lead in implementing regulatory innovations in new scenarios such as digital bills of lading, digital warehouse receipts, and smart logistics, and consolidate its position as a hub for bulk commodity resource allocation.
Focus on supporting medical services at ports
Support the establishment of the Ningbo National Port Drug Inspection Institute, fill the gaps in port services for pharmaceutical trade, improve the efficiency of customs clearance and inspection of imported drugs, and help the biopharmaceutical industry to strengthen its supply chain.
Focusing on the integration of intelligent manufacturing and empowerment
Explore the implementation of the "Artificial Intelligence+Manufacturing" initiative, form practical application scenarios and typical models, deeply embed AI technology into the entire manufacturing chain, and activate the new quality productivity of advanced manufacturing.