Zhoushan starts cross-border e-commerce import business

A truck carries the first cross-border e-commerce imports to Zhoushan Port Free Trade Zone on June 27. [Photo/WeChat account: china-zjftz]

Zhoushan in Zhejiang province recently launched the cross-border e-commerce import business, with its first imported goods arriving at the Zhoushan Port Free Trade Zone on June 27.

The goods, weighing more than 19,067 kilograms and stored in 6,600 boxes, included $127,000-worth of canned pet food imported from Thailand.

Altogether 6,600 boxes holding more than 19,067 kilograms of canned pet foods imported from Thailand are stored at the Zhoushan Port Free Trade Zone. [Photo/WeChat account: china-zjftz]

The goods were imported by companies in a centralized purchasing model and stored in the Zhoushan Port FTZ. After receiving orders from consumers, companies will then fulfill customs clearance of the goods. This helps reduce time and cost in the purchasing and shipping of goods. 

Zhoushan is an important hub in China's river-sea intermodal transportation network and an important gateway to the rest of the world. The Zhoushan Port FTZ gained approval from the General Administration of Customs to conduct export business in 2014, and started to build a cross-border e-commerce demonstration zone two years later.

The General Administration of Customs canceled the quarantine approval of imported canned pet foods last year, which cut the time required for such goods to enter China by 20 working days.

The Zhoushan Port Free Trade Zone located in Zhoushan, East China’s Zhejiang province, enters operation on Jan 8, 2014. [Photo/IC]