Since the beginning of this year, the Chancay-Shanghai shipping route has been operating with increasing frequency, with both inbound and outbound traffic thriving. In the first eight months, the Chancay-Shanghai shipping route completed a total of 170 voyages, carrying 141,000 tonnes of import and export cargo with a total value of 4.04 billion yuan, representing year-on-year growth of 13.7% and 33.3% respectively.
Shanghai Customs has carried out a special initiative to facilitate cross-border trade, continuously enhancing its smart supervision level and efficiency, and supporting the ongoing upgrade of cargo capacity along the new Asia-Latin America land-sea corridor. As the core hub for Peruvian fruit imports, Shanghai Port handles more than 70% of the nation's Peruvian fruit import business and serves as the key gateway connecting agricultural trade between China and Peru.
On September 21 local time, at Peru's Chancay Port, 12.2 tonnes of fresh blueberries were loaded into refrigerated containers, scheduled to be shipped to Shanghai aboard the COSCO Shipping Lines WSA5 service on the Chancay-Shanghai express route. What set this shipment apart was that it was the first pilot application of the mutual recognition model for cold treatment probe supervision on imported fruit.
Cold treatment of imported fruit is an internationally accepted practice that uses sustained low temperatures to eliminate harmful organisms potentially carried by imported fruit, thereby preventing the cross-border spread of exotic pests. The bilateral protocol signed between China and Peru requires that, depending on different temperature requirements, imported Peruvian blueberries must undergo 15 to 22 days of cold treatment before entry, and qualified temperature probes must be placed at designated positions to ensure the effectiveness of the cold treatment.
In the past, after Peruvian blueberries arrived at the port, customs officers needed to open containers to verify the placement of cold treatment probes and whether the probes were qualified, a process that consumed considerable time. In order to allow Peruvian blueberries that have traveled across the ocean to retain their fresh flavour while ensuring safety and to reach consumers' tables as quickly as possible, customs authorities actively consolidated and deepened cooperation with Peruvian counterparts in plant quarantine and jointly developed a data mutual recognition system. The Peruvian exporter, when packing the fruit, sends information such as temperature probe placement positions and probe qualification verification through the system to the Chinese side.
"By accepting official Peruvian data, on-site container-opening operations at the port for verifying cold treatment probes will be reduced by more than 90%, and the inspection time per container will be shortened by nearly half a day, effectively reducing comprehensive customs clearance costs for foreign trade enterprises including logistics, inspection and warehousing," said Cui Jinlu, Section Chief of the Second Plant Quarantine Section under the Animal and Plant Quarantine Division of Shanghai Customs.
Relying on the Chancay-Shanghai shipping corridor, batches of Peruvian fruit have arrived in China, while domestically produced vehicles have also set sail for Peru, with two-way trade flourishing. On September 22, at the Haitong Terminal in Shanghai's Waigaoqiao Port Area — the largest ro-ro vehicle export terminal in the country — the ro-ro vessel "Huanghekou" carrying 315 domestically produced new energy vehicles set off for Peru's Chancay Port. On September 22, customs officers from Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port Area Customs carried out inspection and supervision work on vehicles exported to Chancay Port.
Since the beginning of this year, a total of 7 ro-ro vessel voyages from Haitong Terminal have departed for Chancay Port, exporting 4,770 vehicles. In response to the characteristics of large single-batch volumes and tight shipping schedules for domestic vehicle exports, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port Area Customs under Shanghai Customs has made full use of the customs-enterprise liaison officer system, obtained vessel berthing plans in advance, and precisely implemented a series of facilitation measures including "smart verification plus remote supervision" and "direct loading upon arrival," effectively alleviating customs clearance pressure caused by the concentrated arrival of export vehicles, ensuring "zero-delay" customs clearance for vehicles and smooth shipment according to scheduled sailing dates.