Guangzhou bonded zone helps enterprises save shipping cost

By sending returned packages along with new packages heading to the same destination, a bonded zone in South China's Guangzhou City is helping cross-border e-commerce enterprises save shipping cost.   

Guangzhou Nansha Comprehensive Bonded Zone features a logistics center for cross-border e-commerce enterprises, where hundreds of types of goods are shelved daily and tens of thousands of packages are processed each day.

"Currently, cross-border e-commerce retailers in Guangzhou mainly import goods like food, cosmetics, and leather products, with 1,075 Harmonized System (HS) codes involved. The imported goods are from 163 countries and regions, covering the world's five continents," said Zhang Yuyuan, a fourth-class researcher of the regulatory office of Guangzhou Customs.

"The cross-border e-commerce industry in Guangzhou currently exhibits three characteristics. Firstly, there is a relatively huge demand for imports. The value of the goods Guangzhou imported has been the largest nationwide for nine consecutive years since 2015. In the first seven months of this year, it imported 16.22-billion-yuan (about 3 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods, up 6.7 percent year on year and involving over 23.7 million consumer orders. Secondly, the proportion of major e-commerce platforms for imports continues to rise. Thirdly, the imported goods are still mainly consumer goods," said Zhang. 

Cross-border exporters have long been troubled with returned packages because consumers who purchased fast-moving consumer goods may return or swap items for reasons like unmatched size or unsatisfied looks. To tackle this problem, Guangzhou's Nansha Customs has introduced innovative storage and shipping solutions for cross-border e-commerce enterprises.

"We allow the cross-border e-commerce enterprises to store their returned overseas packages with goods to be exported, ship them in one package, and transport them in the same container. By doing so, we help the enterprises save costs for setting warehouses for returned packages outside China. We also help them save management and logistics costs, thus contributing to the building of an export industrial chain for cross-border e-commerce enterprises," said Li Qi, deputy director of the cross-border e-commerce regulatory section of Guangzhou's Nansha Customs.

In the first seven months of this year, a special regulatory area in the customs area of Guangzhou Customs has sent nearly 50 million packages in this innovative way for cross-border e-commerce enterprises, saving them nearly 1.25 billion yuan (about 180 million U.S. dollars) in international logistics and transportation fees.  

China's cross-border e-commerce industry imported and exported 1.22 trillion yuan (about 170 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods in the first six months this year, increasing 10.5 percent year on year.

Guangzhou bonded zone helps enterprises save shipping cost

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠China's self-developed floating airship Jimu No.1 successfully carried out atmospheric research over the Purog Kangri Glacier in Xizang Autonomous Region earlier this month.

The Purog Kangri, situated in Xizang's Nagqu City is the world's third-largest ice sheet and the largest outside of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Due to growing threats from global warming, meterological data collection is crucial to efforts to conserve the glacier.

Under the operation of 65 scientists, the airship managed to ascend to 6,300 meters and gather valuable data such as greenhouse gases, aerosols, and other atmospheric conditions over the glacier.

This atmospheric research was conducted during the monsoon season, when adverse weather, including thunderstorms and snow, frequently pose challenges to the research, further testing the airship's capability.

"We chose the monsoon season because the meteorological conditions are particularly complex, presenting a completely new challenge for us," said Zhao Aibin, on-site supervisor from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The data collected during this operation will significantly contribute to the understanding of the Purog Kangri Glacier's environment, helping scientists better predict changes in the region's atmosphere and climate. 

This research is expected to continue until the end of September, with the findings offering critical insights into atmospheric circulation patterns.

Chinese floating airship collects atmospheric data over world's third-largest ice sheet