The green light was recently given to the city of Ordos, in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, to establish a specialist handling facility at the local airport for imported seafood and fruit, according to officials.

Officials said that on Nov 20, Ordos airport got the approval from the General Administration of Customs to set up a special supervised facility to handle imported fruit, frozen seafood and seafood products.

According to the local authorities, Inner Mongolia autonomous region currently does not have a designated supervision facility to handle these types of imported products.

Officials said Ordos took the lead in filling the gap to meet the needs of consumers in the autonomous region.

After the construction of the supervision facility, imported fruit and seafood -- both live and frozen seafood -- will be sent to Ordos directly from abroad.

Officials said this will greatly reduce the transport costs and times and provide fresh, high quality and affordable seafood and fruit products to locals.

In addition, the imported fruit and seafood can be delivered to the major markets in Ordos within the hour, and to neighboring cities such as Hohhot, Baotou, Yulin in Shaanxi province, within two to three hours.

According to local officials, the increasing functions of the airport and the increasing demands for imported fruit and seafood, will help with the development of an international and regional aviation network.

They said the new facility will be the main port for the import of fruit and seafood in the autonomous region and even in the northwestern China.

Officials added that it will boost the construction of Ordos International Airport as a complex aviation hub -- promoting the foreign trade, consumption and logistics in the city.