Who is Buying Out Xiamen Port? Unveiling the Trade Miracle of 150,000 Yuan per Minute

At 6 a.m., the gantry cranes at Xiamen Dongdu Port start handling containers, and cargo ships with words from different countries slowly berth. This city, with a permanent population of less than 5 million, creates an annual import and export volume of over 800 billion yuan, which means that goods worth 150,000 yuan flow here every minute. What kind of trade secrets does Xiamen hold?

Opening the yellowed customs files, Xiamen was already a major tea - exporting town in 1880, with an annual export volume accounting for one - third of the country's total. Today, under the arcade of Zhongshan Road, one can still find the cast - iron safes left by foreign firms back then. Mr. Zhang's handicraft company has been passed down through five generations, from the wooden - sailboat era to cross - border e - commerce. Pointing at the old photo on the office wall, he said, "My grandfather carried porcelain to the dock with a shoulder pole, and now we receive orders from Northern Europe on our mobile phones."

• In 2023, the cross - border e - commerce transaction volume in Xiamen increased by 42%, leading the country in growth rate
• The proportion of imports and exports to countries along the "Belt and Road" increased to 35.7%
• Electromechanical products account for over 60% of exports, and high - value - added products have become a new trend

The automated terminal at Haicang Bonded Port Area is stunning: driverless container trucks shuttle along the laser guidance, and the bridge crane operators remotely control with gamepads in the office. Ms. Li's cold - chain logistics company has just introduced a - 60℃ deep - freezer. "Cherries from Chile take no more than 8 hours from berthing to reaching the supermarket freezer." Data from Zhongshitong shows that Xiamen Port's shipping routes cover 54 countries, and the intelligent customs clearance system has shortened the export declaration to 15 minutes.

In Xiangyu Comprehensive Bonded Zone, bonded display and trading allow consumers to place on - site orders for imported red wine, and the back - end directly links up with customs for clearance. This "front - store and back - warehouse" model makes the price of imported goods 20% - 30% lower than the market price.

In a live - streaming room in Software Park Phase II, the host is introducing bathroom products to Southeast Asian audiences in Minnan dialect. The digital big screen behind the camera is flickering with real - time transaction data: a Malaysian customer has just placed an order for 200 sets of smart toilets. "It used to take 3 months to get the payment back in traditional foreign trade, but now with live - streaming e - commerce, the payment arrives within 72 hours." The operation director shows their AI multi - language real - time translation system.

Three transformation signals worthy of attention:

• The export volume of the market procurement trade method pilot exceeded 10 billion yuan
• The issuance volume of RCEP certificates of origin increased by 178% year - on - year
• The export of new energy vehicles surged by 3 times, and the export of photovoltaic modules covers 82 countries

When you are having hand - brewed coffee on Zhongshan Road, you may not think that the import chain of coffee beans is being optimized in Xiamen; when you are using a domestic tablet computer, you may not know that its components are distributed globally via Xiamen Airport. The trade stories of this city are always being rewritten in the collision between tradition and modernity.

Standing on the viewing platform of Gaoqi Airport, the take - off and landing cargo planes and the giant ships on the sea form a three - dimensional trade network. When the digital twin port starts trial operation and more small and medium - sized enterprises join the global value chain, Xiamen may be answering: in the post - pandemic era, how should a regional trade hub be re - defined? Is your industry ready to catch this fast - moving train?