Shanghai FTZ smooths out path for imported vehicles domestic market entry

Imported vehicles can now enter the Chinese market at a faster pace with lower costs thanks to efforts made by the Pudong Airport Comprehensive Bonded Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, which has smoothed out the clearance, examination and storage process.

The area took the lead among comprehensive bonded areas across China to set up the first examination line for imported vehicles in January by offering "one-stop" examinations near the warehouse.

"The examination line is less than 300 meters from the warehouse. Companies can make an appointment for examination, which cuts the required time from the previous three days to the current less than five hours," said Shan Honggang, head of the vehicle examination laboratory of Shanghai Customs.

The Shanghai Customs office at the Pudong airport has also cut the clearance time for imported vehicles from half a day to half an hour with its service window that is especially set up for imported vehicles.

In addition, the bonded area offers tailored storage solutions for imported vehicles that feature high storage frequency, high value, short storage time and small volumes to help enhance logistics efficiency and lower costs.

Take the 30 Aston Martin vehicles that arrived in Pudong on Dec 7 as an example. The new storage solution for these vehicles will save costs by nearly 20 percent, compared with the previous billing method of being billed by year, month and the number of warehouses used.

Officials said that nearly 100 more Aston Martin vehicles valued at 200 million yuan ($31.42 million) will enter the domestic market through the Pudong bonded area soon.

The bonded area has received about 6,000 international luxury vehicles including Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar and Land Rover. The combined value has exceeded 4 billion yuan.