Optimizing the supervision and service of strategic mineral resources to build a strong manufacturing country
At the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it was proposed to accelerate the filling of gaps in the field of relationship security development and enhance the ability to guarantee the supply of strategic resources. Taking the "Smart Customs Strong Country" action as an opportunity, Ningbo Customs relies on Ningbo Zhoushan Port, a national strategic mineral resource import hub, to fully ensure the security and stability of the strategic mineral resource supply chain and provide solid support for the implementation of the national strategy of building a strong manufacturing country.
From slow to fast, smooth the main artery of importing primary minerals. In the process of unloading iron ore at Zhoushan Port in Ningbo, automated unloading, conveyor belt transportation, sampling and sampling, radioactive monitoring, and solid waste investigation are carried out simultaneously, reflecting the innovative practice of intelligent and timely supervision by Ningbo Customs.
Native minerals are raw materials for the manufacturing industry, and supporting supply chain stability is a fundamental project for building a strong manufacturing country. From January to November 2025, Ningbo Port imported over 200 billion yuan worth of bulk commodities such as metal ores, mineral sands, and energy products.
The change in customs supervision mode has eliminated the previous intermediate storage and repeated loading and unloading links, and the overall clearance cycle has been compressed by more than 7 days, significantly reducing our company's logistics costs and port congestion pressure, "said Wen Jianping, the person in charge of Zhongzhai Port in Ningbo Zhoushan Port. It is estimated that iron ore alone will increase the annual operating volume of Ningbo Zhoushan Port by 6 million tons, saving an average of about 15 hours of customs clearance time per batch.
From difficulty to ease, create a new paradigm for regulating recycled metals. In the past, how to inspect metal blocks weighing hundreds of kilograms and as hard as concrete was a common headache for customs inspectors and import companies. Cao Liu, the head of the Inspection Department at the Chuanshan Office of Beilun Customs under Ningbo Customs, said, "In the past, when inspecting these compacted blocks, we had to coordinate with the dock and workers to use earth methods such as gas cutting and pry bars to break and dismantle them bit by bit. Not only was the efficiency extremely low, but there were also safety risks
In the face of this industry wide challenge, Ningbo Customs, in collaboration with Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group, has launched a cross-border breakthrough and developed the first large-scale intelligent equipment dedicated to the dismantling of recycled metal pressure packs in China. Through remote control operation, the hydraulic shear of this equipment can intelligently adjust the angle and force according to the shape and size of the package, achieving precise, non-destructive, and safe disassembly. The disassembly time has been greatly reduced from 2 days to 15 minutes.
In addition, Ningbo Customs has also started from strengthening laboratory support capabilities, creating department level training points for imported recycled raw materials, and other aspects to provide strong support for improving the quality and efficiency of imported recycled metal supervision. At present, the relevant laboratories of Ningbo Customs have obtained multiple qualifications such as CNAS and CMA, and have been approved as the only first-class risk monitoring point for imported recycled metals in China.
From scratch, break through the bottleneck of key material circulation. Recycled black powder for lithium-ion batteries is rich in strategic mineral resources such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, which are scarce in the country and have enormous value. However, due to policy gaps, it has long been blocked from entering the country.
The strategic value of recycled black powder is high. Ningbo Customs actively participates in national policy formulation, provides suggestions and recommendations to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment under the guidance of the Inspection and Quarantine Department, organizes opinion evaluations, puts forward important suggestions such as performance indicators and customs supervision measures, takes the lead in formulating supporting measures, and ensures the smooth implementation of imported recycled black powder.
In order to synchronously carry out regulatory work, Ningbo Customs was the first to obtain the qualification for black powder laboratory testing within the system, and took the lead in formulating the "Inspection Regulations for Recycled Black Powder Raw Materials for Imported Lithium ion Batteries" to provide standardized operational guidance for customs law enforcement. On August 1, 2025, the first imported recycled black powder in China was successfully cleared and released through customs in Ningbo, which is of great significance to the security of China's strategic mineral resources.
Looking towards the future, Ningbo Customs will always have a broad vision of the country, and strive to create an efficient, coordinated, safe and controllable "Ningbo model", injecting more "customs momentum" into the stable and smooth supply chain of the strategic mineral resources industry chain, interpreting the mission and responsibility of "smart customs power" with practical actions, and contributing greater strength to serving the construction of a "manufacturing power". (Written by Chen Bing and Zhang Changqing)