Bonded port key to coast city's trade success

As a port city, Qingdao aims to build itself into a key node along the Road and Belt Initiative and the Qingdao Bonded Port Area is at the heart of this mission.

The Qingdao Automobile Import Terminal began operations in November 2012 and remains the only car import harbor in Shandong province.

The import terminal reduces costs for car buyers and, compared with Tianjin and Dalian, it cuts the transport distance by 400 nautical miles, saving four to eight days for buyers wanting to pick up their cars.

With relatively high added value, the car import operation will help increase diversity of business models and enhance competitiveness.

It also creates an industry chain of more than 100 billion yuan ($16.39 billion), with car imports, manufacturing, sales, a customs clearance agency, logistics and automobile modification.

To date, two automobile berths, an 80,000-square-meter automobile storage yard and an 11,000-square-meter examination area, as well as infrastructure, including an information management system, customs inspection area and video surveillance system, have been put into use.

The second phase will include three specialized car berths, a terminal operation area and an international automobile trade center, with an annual throughput of 710 thousand vehicles.

When complete, the trade center will create 20,000 job opportunities, according to the plan.

To offer its service to a broader area, the Qingdao Bonded Port Area has set up bonded function extension areas in other cities of Shandong, including Weifang, Dezhou, Jining, Linyi, Heze, Binzhou, Tai'an and Liaocheng, with a combined area of more than 50 sq km.

The policy in the extension areas quickly attracted a large number of companies.

The Binzhou extension area opened in January and 105 companies moved to the area within a month with a combined registered capital of 500 million yuan.

In the Jining Bonded Function Extension Area, an international agricultural products trade center is in the pipeline with a comprehensive information trade platform and a complete variety of inspection centers, according to plans. The administrative committee of Qingdao Bonded Port Area signed an agreement with Haier Group to build the first cross-border e-commerce public service platform on May 15.

As a business-to-business platform, it will help small and medium enterprises enhance their international trade capabilities with convenient access to information about supply chains and logistics.

xiechuanjiao@chinadaily.com.cn