“Sea-Rail Intermodal” Expands New Transport Channels

With the approaching sound of train whistles in early summer, the Lu'an Freight Station welcomed an important group of "guests" - 10 containers filled with 99 tons of POE plastic particles imported from Spain which entered the country via the Port of Shanghai.

The arrival of this train marks the official opening of the "sea-rail intermodal" transportation route in Lu'an City.

"Sea-rail intermodal transportation" is a special mode of rail-water intermodal transport in which railway and ship transportation services are connected through coastal seaports so that the carriage of import and export goods only requires "one declaration, one inspection, and one release". "The transportation cost of a single container on this 'sea-rail intermodal' journey is about 4,000 yuan, which is 33% lower than road transport. This significantly reduces logistics costs for companies and brings tangible benefits," said Yang Guangqiang, the Freight Department Manager of China COSCO Shipping Corporation Anhui Branch.

In recent years, Anhui has been deepening cooperation with ports of other regions in the Yangtze River Delta by strengthening coordination and improving customs clearance integration. According to an official from Lu'an Customs, they successfully ensured smooth customs clearance of this batch of goods by closely monitoring important logistics nodes, establishing communication and consultation mechanisms with port customs, and providing goods agents with guidance on compliant declaration and logistics choices. These measures helped companies reduce their transportation costs considerably.

"Sea-rail intermodal" is a microcosm of Anhui's continuous optimization of the cross-border trade business environment.

"The 'joint unloading' supervision mode has now been fully implemented in waterway ports of Anhui Province." According to an official from Hefei Customs, the "joint unloading" supervision mode serves integrated customs clearance better than traditional modes. This mode, characterized by overall supervision, allows integrated customs clearance operations between Yangshan Port in Shanghai and Anhui's Yangtze River waterway ports. It fully utilizes the advantages of waterway transportation, thus substantially saving logistics costs for companies. At the same time, it improves the efficiency of logistics operations in the Yangtze River Delta region, eases the unloading pressure on port terminals and highways, and creates a better cross-border trade business environment at the ports.