Companies fulfill custom clearance procedures at the Zhoushan Maritime Safety Administration. [Photo/ zhoushan.cn]

The Zhoushan Maritime Safety Administration has recently reformed customs clearance processes in the city, enabling vessels engaged in international voyages to make customs declaration online without needing to pay a visit to the administrative offices of maritime affairs.

Shipping agents only need to fill in the information of the vessels, cargoes, and crew online and submit the digital copies of related documents, reduced also by around 50 percent, to fulfill the customs declaration, which can be done in two to three hours.

"It used to take us three trips back and forth to the maritime affairs administrative office to fulfill the approval process for vessels engaged in international voyages before the reform was enacted," said Zheng Binfeng, a manager at the China Zhoushan Shipping Agent Co.

"Some shipping agents on the remote islands even had to travel to the department by ship to fulfill the process, with the risk of bringing a huge loss to both vessels and agents if the ship was to be delayed in extreme weather," Zheng added.

The administration has also issued two guidebooks to familiarize vessel companies with the customs clearance processes.

Meanwhile, to safeguard the security of shipping, the administration has strengthened regulation by assessing the credibility of companies and placing higher requirements on low-credit companies for obtaining approval, as well as enabling a joint examination of the vessels by border defense bodies and custom offices.                                             

A customs official at the Zhoushan Maritime Safety Administration explains to companies how to fulfill customs clearance online. [Photo/ zhoushan.cn]