Today (27th), the General Administration of Customs rolled out an expanded multimodal transport pilot program simultaneously at ports across the country, including Shandong, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hainan, Guangxi, and Chongqing. This new model replaces the traditional customs transit declaration with a single "Multimodal Transport Application Form," enabling the seamless movement of goods between ports, transshipment points, and final destinations.

On the morning of January 27th, at the Shandong Qingdao port, a batch of 250 tons of imported cotton, declared under the new sea-rail multimodal transport model, was directly loaded onto a freight train after being unloaded from the ship. Companies now only need to declare one "Multimodal Transport Application Form" to the customs authorities to swiftly complete the transfer between sea and rail transport, truly achieving "one-time declaration" and a "single bill through" the entire process. Luo Fumao, Deputy Director of the Port Supervision Department at Qingdao Customs, stated that for eligible goods, companies can achieve "one-time customs declaration and one-time inspection," eliminating the need for transit procedures and enabling "zero-waiting" transshipment of goods, effectively reducing corporate logistics costs and goods-in-transit time.

The advantages of the expanded multimodal transport model are significant; for distances over 600 kilometers, sea-rail intermodal transport can generally save about 30% in transportation costs compared to sea-road intermodal transport, making it the optimal channel connecting inland ports with coastal ports. For businesses, the new model brings not only simplified procedures but also tangible cost reductions. Zhu Huimin, a manager at a logistics company, noted that previously, sea-rail intermodal cargo required separate customs procedures at the port and the railway; now, everything is settled in one go at the port of entry. Once the goods arrive at the railway yard, they are directly transshipped, saving both time and effort.

Calculations estimate savings of approximately 200 yuan per shipment and a 50% reduction in customs clearance time. Qingdao Port, situated at the land-sea intersection of the "Belt and Road" initiative and a crucial outlet for the Yellow River Basin, has currently established 56 inland dry ports and operates 86 sea-rail intermodal train services. Its sea-rail intermodal shipment volume has ranked first in the country for 11 consecutive years. The previous sea-rail intermodal method did not achieve true "end-to-end" connectivity because changing the transport mode also required handling transit procedures. The implementation of this new customs supervision model for sea-rail transport will further propel the rapid development of sea-rail intermodal transport, providing robust support for building efficient and stable international logistics channels.

Ban Zhengqi, Planning Supervisor of the Operations Department at Qingdao Qianwan United Container Terminal of Shandong Ports Group Qingdao Port, emphasized that the seamless integration of sea and rail transport allows goods to be directly loaded onto trains after unloading from ships, significantly boosting port operational turnover efficiency, effectively reducing idle time in storage yards, and greatly unleashing the operational capacity and core advantages of the hub port. In the future, leveraging this new model, they will continue to deepen coordination with inland dry ports, densify the intermodal network, and further strengthen their radiating and driving influence on the Yellow River Basin and inland hinterlands.