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Shanghai’s Yangshan Special Comprehensive Bonded Zone has begun building its “Digital Comprehensive Bonded Zone” this month, aiming to facilitate digital transformation across various industries and eliminate data silos among stakeholders. Industry experts indicate that this initiative could reduce logistics expenses for companies by nearly 30 percent.
The Digital Bonded Zone will connect the information management service platform within the Lingang Special Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone with data platforms used by logistics, warehousing, and financial service providers. This integration is intended to significantly enhance operational efficiency and enable smart oversight of business transactions.
For instance, Shandong Energy (Hainan) Smart International Technology was able to secure financing against a shipment arriving at Yangshan Port on August 18th just one day after the system went live. This success was made possible by the streamlined data integration, which allows electronic bills of lading, delivery orders, and warehouse receipts from various agencies to be combined into a single document, greatly simplifying the workflow.
Traditionally, such pledge financing would take about five to seven business days to process. With electronic warehouse receipts, banks can release funds instantly, increasing cash turnover efficiency by over 80 percent. The new system is projected to cut logistics costs by 30 percent and save the industry hundreds of millions of Chinese yuan (equivalent to tens of millions of U.S. dollars) annually in operating expenses.
The platform leverages blockchain distributed ledger technology to record the entire lifecycle of cross-border shipping documents. This provides financial institutions with reliable proof for trade financing and expedites access to funding for importers and exporters.
Improved digital management within the bonded zone also opens up new business opportunities.
“ZF Automotive Systems Remanufacturing (Shanghai) used to limit its bonded repair services to the Chinese market,” said Wu Shengming, remanufacturing manager at the company. “Since the launch of the Digital Bonded Zone, our process has become more transparent to potential clients, and we now serve almost the entire globe. We’ve received maintenance requests from customers in South Korea, Australia, and even the Americas.”
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