By Rui Hu, EDITOR

On July 29, 2019, a red Porsche 911 sports car quickly completed customs clearance at Chongqing railway port for imported vehicles. It is the 2,000th “passenger” arriving in Chongqing, only five months after the Regular Railway Transportation Program of Porsche Cars officially began in the city.

The freight train X8044 from Hamburg of Germany arrives at Wujiashan railway container center station in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Aug. 26, 2018 (Photo by Xiao Yijiu)

The first half of 2019 saw rapid improvement in the quantity and quality of China Railway Express (Chongqing): 851 trains and 75,400 TEUs of goods marked a year-on-year growth of 118.2% and 133.8% respectively. Given that, China Railway Express (Chongqing) kept up rapid development—doubled dispatched trains—in 2018, and the value of imported goods and other data took the lead in China. Since 2018, the actual load rate topped 90%, the goal of this year is to reach 100%.

“Customers in Southwestern China can get their new cars sooner. Although track gauges are different and transshipment by different containers is required, the railway transportation route shortens the time of car logistics by three weeks to 20 days,” said Oliver Bronder, Vice President Logistics and Production Control at Porsche AG.

The Program is estimated to open eight trains carrying over 570 cars per month, totally 8,000 cars valuing 3.2 billion yuan per year, to Chongqing. The figure accounts for one-tenth of the car sales of Porsche (China). As a result, China Railway Express (Chongqing) and Chongqing railway port for imported vehicles have significantly upgraded their operation and construction capabilities.

Meanwhile, Chongqing Customs carries out Combined Inspection of Same Series to facilitate customs clearance. Specifically, non-modified motor vehicles with 3C (China Compulsory Certification) certificate, which are imported through the same train by the same consigner, enjoy the same size and model number and are produced under the same condition, can be regarded as the same series of goods and receive a combined inspection. The measure reduces time needing for vehicle customs clearance by over one third. The first batch of 10 imported Porsche cars only took 4.69 hours to complete the procedure.

Attracted by the Program, on July 11, the first four Ferrari sports cars entered Chongqing at the port, marking the success of the inaugural test of Railway Transportation Program of Ferrari Cars. More than that, automobile brands, such as Volkswagen (Germany) and LADA (Russia), launched China Railway Express vehicle transportation programs successively.

In the first six months of 2019, the time needed for customs clearance of import and export at Chongqing railway port has been shortened by 73.9% and 97.28% respectively compared with 2017. This goes above and beyond the requirement of reducing the time by one third.

Source: CQCB
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