Recently, under the supervision of customs officers at Kunming Changshui Airport Customs, a consignment of export goods weighing 169 kilograms was transshipped from Chongqing via Kunming. Without the need for re-declaration, it was transferred directly from the unloading area of the domestic cargo terminal at Kunming Changshui International Airport through the airside area to the outbound channel of the airport's international cargo terminal, and then loaded onto a China Eastern Airlines flight to Dhaka, Bangladesh. This marked the official launch of the new “airside direct transfer” model in Yunnan.

Customs officers supervise the first batch of export goods using the “airside direct transfer” model at Kunming airport port. Photo by Guo Yan.

To ease time constraints on cargo transfers and facilitate cross-border trade in air cargo, Kunming Changshui Airport Customs has rolled out the new “airside direct transfer” model. By coordinating with airlines, airport ground handling and other departments, and using integrated, end-to-end supervision of the airside transfer process, goods can be transferred directly from the domestic cargo terminal to the international cargo terminal through a dedicated airside supervised corridor. This realizes one single document throughout, one handover and one loading/unloading, and eliminates previous steps such as secondary security screening for warehouse entry and cross-warehouse transfer.

“After the ‘airside direct transfer’ model was adopted, customs clearance for each transshipped export consignment became significantly more efficient. Transit logistics efficiency increased by about 70 percent, and the shortest transfer time can be reduced to less than one hour. Enterprises' ground feeder logistics costs dropped by about 30 percent. The new model makes air cargo transfer processes and scheduling more flexible, and can more effectively ensure timely delivery of goods,” said Guo Yan, manager of the international operations department at the Southwest Branch of China Eastern Airlines Logistics Co., Ltd.

“We have implemented end-to-end, information-based traceability and oversight, achieving real-time oversight of every stage of the customs clearance and transfer process, with controllable risks and traceable sources,” said Xiao Jun, chief of the Second Port Supervision Section of Kunming Changshui Airport Customs. “Next, we will continue to deepen cross-border trade facilitation reforms, improve regulatory services, and promote the application of facilitation measures such as ‘airside direct transfer,’ ‘air-to-air transshipment’ and ‘green clearance.’ This will help enterprises reduce costs and improve efficiency, help airlines make better use of available cargo capacity and foreign trade enterprises' expansion into international markets, and strengthen the role and capacity of the Southwest China international air hub.

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(Editors: Jennifer, Rachel)