The "inspect first and then ship" model has been officially implemented, and the customs clearance efficiency of cross-border e-commerce in Shenzhen has been greatly improved.

According to news from the General Administration of Customs on April 7, on April 2, Shenzhen Customs successfully cleared customs for the first batch of goods applying the cross-border e-commerce export "inspect first and then ship" supervision model. A batch of cross-border e-commerce export goods including lamps, toys and other daily consumer goods departed from Channel 1 of Shenzhen International Longhua Cross-border Logistics Smart Consolidation Center. Under the full supervision of Guanlan Customs, the goods arrived at Yantian Port via road transportation, and then Dapeng Customs completed the "last mile" supervision of the entry into the port, and were finally successfully shipped overseas. This customs clearance marks the official implementation of the "inspect first and then ship" model in Shenzhen.

At a time when global cross-border e-commerce is surging, Shenzhen, with its unique geographical location, complete industrial chain supporting facilities and active innovation ecology, has firmly established itself as the core and frontier of China's cross-border e-commerce. The scale of business here is huge. Massive amounts of goods are shipped from ports, airports and other hubs to all corners of the world every day. Export demand continues to be strong. However, behind the prosperous development, Shenzhen's cross-border e-commerce exports are also facing many business pain points.

Shenzhen's cross-border e-commerce goods are rich in variety, ranging from fashionable clothing and practical electronic products to warm household items, exquisite beauty and personal care products, etc., and the batches are usually large. At the same time, the cross-border e-commerce industry is changing rapidly, and consumers have extremely demanding requirements for the speed of product delivery. Once there is a delay in customs clearance, serious consequences such as order cancellation and customer loss may follow. However, under the traditional customs clearance model, goods need to be boxed and sealed first, and then inspected. The process is cumbersome and cannot meet the urgent needs of cross-border e-commerce for efficient customs clearance. When the goods are inspected and prepared for shipment, if the best sales opportunity is missed, a large number of orders may be canceled and the enterprise will suffer heavy losses.

Under the traditional model, the goods are packed and sealed before entering the inspection process. If problems are found, they have to be unpacked and rectified. This process not only consumes a lot of manpower and time, but also incurs additional warehousing, loading and unloading fees and other expenses. Moreover, the rectified goods need to be queued up again for inspection and shipment, which further extends the customs clearance time, increases the company's operating costs, and reduces market competitiveness. If the shipping schedule is delayed again, the goods will have to be transferred to the next ship, resulting in a significant increase in transportation costs.

Under the traditional customs clearance model, the information on the flow of vehicles and goods in the logistics park is not transparent enough, making it difficult for companies to grasp the dynamics of goods in real time. This makes it impossible for companies to reasonably arrange production and distribution plans, and is prone to inventory backlogs or shortages, affecting the stability of the supply chain. At the same time, information opacity also increases the communication costs between enterprises, customs and logistics enterprises, and reduces overall operational efficiency.

In recent years, the scale of Shenzhen’s cross-border e-commerce market has shown rapid growth. According to relevant statistics, Shenzhen's cross-border e-commerce import and export volume has ranked among the top in the country for many years, attracting an influx of companies. However, as the number of market participants continues to increase, competition is becoming increasingly fierce. In order to compete for market share, companies have lowered prices one after another, resulting in continuous compression of profit margins. In this case, enterprises urgently need to improve their competitiveness by improving customs clearance efficiency and reducing costs.

With the rapid development of the cross-border e-commerce industry, government supervision of the industry has become increasingly strict. Customs, taxation and other departments have issued a series of policies and regulations to strengthen the supervision of cross-border e-commerce companies and require companies to ensure the authenticity and legality of trade. However, the traditional customs clearance model has shortcomings in information recording and traceability, and companies face greater pressure when responding to regulatory inspections. Once violations occur, companies will not only face penalties such as fines, but will also affect the company's reputation and image, and have a negative impact on the company's long-term development.

Cross-border e-commerce is an emerging industry that requires comprehensive talents with cross-domain knowledge and skills. Although Shenzhen has many universities and abundant talent resources, there is still a shortage of cross-border e-commerce professionals. Enterprises face greater difficulties in recruiting and cultivating talents, resulting in limited innovation and development. Under the traditional customs clearance model, companies are often busy dealing with various cumbersome procedures and problems and have no time to take into account business innovation and technological upgrades, which further restricts the development potential of the company. Some cross-border e-commerce companies have reported that it is very difficult to recruit comprehensive talents who understand both cross-border e-commerce business and are familiar with customs clearance procedures.

The "inspect first and then ship" model breaks the traditional customs clearance process sequence. The goods are inspected before being packed, avoiding rework after shipment. This model greatly shortens customs clearance time and improves the efficiency of cargo shipping. Taking an e-commerce logistics company in Shenzhen as an example, Zhan, chairman of the company, said that after adopting the new model, the goods will be packed and sealed after inspection and release, and then transported to the departure port. When the ship docks, it will be directly shipped out of the country, and customs clearance efficiency will be significantly improved.

According to the latest public information, after adopting the "inspect first and then ship" model, the average customs clearance time for goods has been significantly shortened. The specific data varies slightly depending on the region and the pilot situation, but it is generally between 30% and 50%. For cross-border e-commerce companies, this means that they can deliver goods to consumers faster, improve customer satisfaction, and enhance market competitiveness.

In addition to model innovation, Shenzhen Customs has also upgraded its supervision methods. Using advanced scientific and technological means, the entry and exit and circulation of vehicles and goods in the logistics park are fully controllable and traceable. By establishing an information management system, companies can query the inspection progress, transportation status and other information of goods in real time to achieve visual management and control of logistics. This not only improves the efficiency and accuracy of supervision, but also provides a more reliable guarantee for the logistics operations of enterprises.

In order to enable enterprises to quickly adapt to new models and make good use of new policies, Shenzhen Customs will comprehensively use multiple online and offline channels to increase policy publicity and practical guidance. Customs staff will sort out business processes, interpret key points of supervision, and provide enterprises with a full range of services and support.

The implementation of the “inspect first and then ship” model in Shenzhen is an important innovation in the field of cross-border e-commerce exports. It effectively solves the business pain points under the traditional customs clearance model and brings new development opportunities to Shenzhen cross-border e-commerce companies. With the continuous promotion and application of new models, the customs clearance efficiency of Shenzhen's cross-border e-commerce will be further improved, operating costs will be further reduced, and market competitiveness will be further enhanced.

At the same time, Shenzhen's cross-border e-commerce companies should also seize this opportunity, strengthen their own construction, improve their management level and technological innovation capabilities, actively introduce and cultivate cross-border e-commerce professionals, strengthen cooperation with customs, logistics companies and other parties, and jointly promote the high-quality development of Shenzhen's cross-border e-commerce industry.