Are imported goods always being detained? You may need this Lianyungang Customs Clearance Guidebook

When boxes of imported commodities are being unloaded at the Lianyungang Port, few people would think of the complicated customs clearance process behind it. Mr. Zhang recently encountered a problem - a batch of German precision instruments were detained by the customs due to incomplete declaration materials, directly causing the production line to stop work and incurring a daily loss of over 100,000 yuan. This is not an isolated case. Data shows that in 2023, 23% of the imported goods in Lianyungang incurred additional demurrage fees due to unprofessional agency services. Today, let's uncover how professional freight import agencies can become the "airbags" for enterprises in cross-border trade.

As the eastern bridgehead of the New Eurasian Continental Bridge, Lianyungang has the only 300,000-ton deep-water channel in the country, which can berth 6 200,000-ton ore carriers simultaneously. Ms. Li's chemical raw material import business was precisely attracted by this point: "Compared with other ports, the customs clearance efficiency of iron ore in Lianyungang can be 1.5 working days faster, which is crucial for capital turnover."

• Location Advantage: The nearest seaport radiating to Japan, South Korea, and Central Asia
• Policy Dividend: The linkage between the Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone and the Free Trade Pilot Zone
• Professional Supporting Facilities: The first China-Europe Railway Express Cold Chain Logistics Base in the country

The case library of Zhongshitong shows that high-quality agency services can reduce the comprehensive import costs of enterprises by 18% - 35%:

1. Control of Customs Clearance Timeliness
Through services such as pre-classification review and tariff pre-ruling, the customs clearance time of sensitive commodities such as red wine has been compressed from 7 days to within 72 hours. Once, when a client urgently imported epidemic prevention materials, we set a record of 6-hour customs clearance through the "advance declaration + direct pick-up upon arrival at the port" mode.

2. Control of Hidden Costs
Last year, we helped a certain automobile manufacturer avoid a 1.2 million yuan tax supplement due to an incorrect HS code, which was due to the 10-year-experienced customs declarer equipped in the agency team. A more typical example is the container demurrage charge - professional agencies can save an average of 3.2 days of container detention period for each container through the intelligent scheduling system.

3. Risk Early Warning System
When Australia suddenly adjusted the quarantine standards for wooden products, the cooperating client received an early warning 48 hours in advance, promptly modified the fumigation certificate format, and avoided the risk of the whole batch of goods being returned. Such a database that monitors more than 200 global trade policies in real time is exactly what ordinary freight forwarders do not possess.

• Check the authenticity of the filing number of the power of attorney for customs declaration by the agent
• Require the presentation of customs clearance cases of similar commodities in the recent 3 months
• Confirm whether an AEO-certified customs declarer is equipped
• Verify the crisis handling process (such as the emergency plan for customs inspection)
• Compare whether the fee list includes all possible surcharges

Now, leading agency companies have already realized "intelligent customs clearance" - through blockchain technology, the documentary review time of imported automobile parts has been shortened from 3 days to 15 minutes. A client can even view the temperature and humidity data of the goods in the bonded warehouse in real time through our visualization system.

Have you ever encountered trade losses due to unprofessional agents? Welcome to share your experiences. If you are considering changing service providers, you may as well use the golden criteria in this article to make a quick assessment. After all, in this war of cross-border trade without gunpowder smoke, choosing the right partner often means winning half the battle.