A container with cargos from an SIP-based nutritional products company was loaded on a barge at SIP Port on Jan 17, starting its journey toward Shanghai’s Waigaoqiao Port where it will be transshipped to Melbourne, Australia. It is for the first time that SIP Port served as the departure port for waterway container delivery in a foreign trade case.

Previously, SIP-based companies intending to export products to other countries and regions by sea had to apply for empty containers with a first-tier port in Shanghai or Taicang (a county-level city under Suzhou’s jurisdiction), and then bring the containers back, put products in them and transport them back to the port by truck. Compared with that, the waterway delivery from SIP Port to Waigaoqiang Port only takes about three days, and can help companies save cost by about 20%.

The new delivery mode comes after SIP Port launched customs supervision service in order to facilitate foreign trade based on the free trade zone established in SIP last September. It is learnt that SIP Port is building a customs supervision terminal that enables it to form an interconnected service system with ports in Shanghai, Taicang and Ningbo (a city in East China’s Zhejiang province) to improve efficiency for transfer of cargos between the ports.