Introduction
 
  The geographical location of Shanghai is 31 degrees 14 minutes north latitude and 121 degrees 29 minutes east longitude. The city is located on the West coast of the Pacific Ocean, the Eastern part of Asia and the front part of Yangtze Delta. It borders East China Sea to the East, Hangzhou Bay to the South, Zhejiang and Jiangsu Province to the West, and the Yangtze River Estuary to the North, where the Yangtze River flows into the East China Sea.
 
  Shanghai has a completed and fully-opening up transportation system that combines air transportation with land transportation, water transportation, passenger transportation and freight transportation. There are four open water areas in Shanghai: Yangshan Deep-Water Port, Huangpu River, Shanghai section of Yangtze River and the North bank of Hangzhou Bay. Shanghai has water transportation ports with 88 docks and 288 berths, 2 international airports with 4 terminals and 1 corporate aircraft base and 1 railway station.
 
  In 2012, import and export commodities of ports in Shanghai remained above trillions of US dollars, accounting for 27.4% of the total import and export value nationwide. The cargo handling capacity of Shanghai Port ranks the first in the world for 8 consecutive years. The container handling capacity of Shanghai Port ranks the first in the world for 3 consecutive years. Shanghai Port has become the first port in the world with more than 30 million standard boxes of cargos. The cargo handling capacity in airports ranks the third in the world for 5 consecutive years.
 
Statistics on operation
 

Indicator
2012
On Year-on-Year Basis (%)
Total Value of Import and Export Commodities (100 million USD)
10577.9
-0.7
 
Import
6273.6
0.4
Export
4304.4
-2.3
Cargo Handling Capacity (100 million tons)
3.6
5.9
Container Handling Capacity (10,000 boxes)
2815.9
2.1
Entry-Exit Personnel (10,000 people)
2682.2
6.1
 
Entry-Exit Passengers
2437.1
6.6
Vehicle
200146
0.6
 
Aircraft
174376
1.4
Ship
25404
-4.6
Cruise Ship
218
20.4
Train
366
0.5

 
Data on the operation of ports in Shanghai in 2012
 
Links:
The total import and export value of Shanghai customs is 801.3 billion USD, 1.4% lower than the same period of last year, accounting for 20.7% of the total value nationwide. Export value is 491.2 billion USD, 1.8% lower than the same period of last year. Import value is 310.2 billion USD, 0.7% lower than the same period of last year.
 
 
Water transportation:
  The Container Handling Capacity of Shanghai Port in 2012   Unit: 10,000 Tons
 

Indicator
2012
Growth (%)
Traffic of Port
3252.9
2.5
Port Capacity
2815.9
2.1
#Port to Port Transit
1393.6
6.8
#International Transit
178.9
14.2

 
  In 2012, the total value of import and export commodity in water transportation ports was 676 billion USD, 4.4% lower than the same period of last year. The handling capacity of foreign trade goods was 358 million tons, 6.1% higher than the same period of last year. Container handling capacity in ports was 28.159 million, 2.1% higher than the same period of last year. The number of entry-exit passengers was 351,000, 67% higher than the same period of last year.
 
  Shanghai has established a triple operation pattern of water transportation port in 2012, which consists of Shanghai International Passenger Transportation Center, Wusong International Cruise Terminal and Waigaoqiao Wharf (the 6th Phase). 218 cruise ships arrived in and departed from these ports in 2012, 20.4% higher than the same period of last year. The number of entry-exit passengers was 334,000, 72.2% higher than the same period of last year. 164 cruise ships arrived at and departed from their home ports in Shanghai. 75% of passengers visited Shanghai on these cruise ships.
 
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  Shanghai Port is the home port of 4 cruise ships: Costa Victoria, Legend of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Ocean Rose.
 
  Airport:
 
  By the end of 2012, there are 86 international passenger transport air routes, 41 freight transport air routes in Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, covering 122 cities in 50 countries (regions). The total value of import and export commodities from airports is 358.76 billion USD, with a growth rate of 1.2%. Import and export cargo handling capacity is 2.616 million tons, 4.9% lower than the same period of last year. 177,000 flights departed from and arrived at Shanghai, with a growth rate of 1.4%. 23.968 million passengers departed from and arrived at the city, with a growth rate of 7.9%.
 
  In 2012, there are 81 international air routes and 41 freight transport air routes in Pudong International Airport. 159,000 aircrafts took off and landed in Pudong International Airport, with a growth rate of 1.3%. 862 corporate aircrafts took off and landed in Pudong International Airport, 3.4% lower than the same period of last year. 21.654 million passengers departed from and arrived at Shanghai in Shanghai Pudong International Airport, with a growth rate of 5.6%. 2.603 million tons of import and export cargos arrived at the airport, 5.0% lower than the same period of last year. The three largest logistics service providers in the world: UPS, DHL, FEDEX, have set up offices in Pudong International Airport.
 
  There are 5 international air routes in Hongqiao International Airport. 38 flights to Japan, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan would take off and land in the airport every day. 15,000 aircrafts took off and landed in Hongqiao International Airport, with a growth rate of 3.1%. 917 corporate aircrafts took off and landed in the airport, with a growth rate of 24.3%. 2.515 million passengers departed from and arrived at Shanghai in Hongqiao International Airport, with a growth rate of 9.8%. 13,000 tons of import and export cargos arrived at the airport, with a growth rate of 16.7%.
 
  Railway:
 
  Shanghai Railway Station began to offer straight-through passenger train service from Shanghai to Hong Kong (Kowloon) since October 1, 2003 under the approval of the State Council. Passengers should go through entry and exit procedures in accordance with regulations.
 
  In 2012, 366 trains arrived in and departed from railway ports in Shanghai. The number of entry-exit passengers was 151,000, at the same level with the same period of last year.
 
  On April 27, 2013, the railway port of Shanghai Railway Station was opened to the public after passing the state acceptance testing. This is the first long distance railway passenger transportation port in China that directly links Shanghai with Hong Kong through inter-city railway.
 
  Promotion of Key Programs
 
  ●The 3-Year Action Plan of Paperless Customs Clearance
 
  Shanghai Port Administration Office, Shanghai Customs, Shanghai Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, Shanghai Maritime Administration and Shanghai Immigration Control Station made a joint research on the paperless customs clearance program and drew up the “3-Year Action Plan of Paperless Customs Clearance (2013~2015)”, which was implemented under the approval of Shanghai Port Affairs Leading Group in 2013.
 
  In 2013, Shanghai is focusing on implementing paperless customs clearance in airports, paperless customs clearance in export processing areas for bonded goods, paperless customs clearance in water transportation ports and bulk cargo wharfs, and paperless monitoring of international transfer air cargos and domestic transfer cargos.
 
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  Paperless port customs clearance means to use means of informatization and replace paper documents with electronic data transfer (exchange, sharing and mutual reorganization) between different departments and sections while ensuring inspection units to effectively monitor import and export cargos, so as to adapt to the development trends of international trade and modern logistics.
 
  ● Reform of Paperless Customs Clearance
 
  Ports in Shanghai began to implement the pilot program of paperless customs clearance to all legal examine export commodities and a part of legal examine import commodities since April 23, 2012. Since August 1, ports in Shanghai began to implement the pilot program of paperless customs clearance for import and export commodities through maritime transport. All customs declaration forms were included in the classable customs clearance reform. 24-hour intelligent examination has been applied on customs declaration forms of inspection and quarantine.
 
   By the end of 2012, 17,890 enterprises have signed agreements with Shanghai Customs. Shanghai Customs released 203,134 paperless customs declaration forms in total, with a total commodity value of 12.932 billion USD and ranks the first in 12 pilot customs nationwide.
 
  ●Reform of Classable Customs Clearance Process
 
  In 2012, about 83% of export cargos and 80% of import cargos were cleared by the customs with low-risk inspection approaches. The average processing time of customs on these documents was reduced from 15 minutes to 7~8 minutes. Shanghai Waigaoqiao Bonded Area started the reform of classable customs clearance since May 15. So far, Shanghai Customs has become the first customs nationwide to include import and export customs declaration forms in the reform of classable customs clearance process.
 
  ●Preferential Policy for Foreign Passengers in Airports
 
  Shanghai Pudong International Airport began to offer a 24-hour direct transit and immigration formality-free policy to foreign passengers since March 15, 2012. In 2012, more than 240,000 direct transit foreign passengers arrived in Shanghai without going through immigration formalities, with a year-on-year growth of 158.5%.
 
  As for group tourist visa in Shanghai, the number of applicants in each tourist group has been adjusted from 5 people to 2 people since 2012. The amount of group tour has increased by 40%.
 
Airports in Shanghai offer a 72-hour visa-free stay policy to foreign citizens from 45 countries since January 1, 2013.
 
  Links:
 
  Airports in Shanghai offer a 72-hour visa-free stay policy to foreign citizens from the following 45 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, UK, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, UAE and Qatar.
 
  ●Make improvement on the functions of the comprehensive pilot zone of international air transport center
 
  On March 6, 2012, Yangshan Bonded Port officially started the pilot program of “bonded ships registration”. In August, the “Guan-Hai-Chao-Yang” Ship, which was jointly operated by Bank of Communications Leasing Co. Ltd and Fujian Guanhai Maritime Transport Co. Ltd, was registered as the first bonded ship in “Yangshan Port” of China.
 
  The tax refunding policy for port of loading was implemented in Shanghai, Qingdao and Wuhan since August 1, 2012.
 
  In 2012, Shanghai promulgated the “Opinions on Carrying out Financing and Leasing Business in Shanghai Free Trade Zones”. 8 international and domestic financing and leasing parent companies and 50 SPV project companies were introduced to Shanghai Free Trade Zones. The total leasing assets scale exceeds 2.5 billion USD. A large-scale, diversified development trend has been formed in the zone.
 
  In 2012, based on the functions of bonded delivery of futures and pledge of bonded notes, Shanghai Free Trade Zones has achieved a rapid growth of import and export commodities. The import and export volume of copper and copper products has increased by 55%. The sales volume of bulk commodities has increased by 23.3 billion yuan. An agglomeration effect of bulk commodities has been formed in Shanghai Free Trade Zones.
 
  Yangshan Bonded Port formally started the international transit and consolidation business on December 19, 2012.
 
  ● Pilot programs of international cargo transit and domestic customs transit in Pudong International Airport
 
  Pudong International Airport is making progress on expanding the functions of international cargo transfer and the international transfer and consolidation of express items. It has completed the testing for the new international transfer module for shipping bill system. Monitoring measures and facilities have been made for the two transferring air routs of DHL.
 
  ●Management of port opening strategy
 
  In 2013, Shanghai has made great efforts to expand Lingang industrial and operating area for state approval, expand the Yangshan Bonded Port for acceptance examination, further expand and open up the operating area on Changxing Island, and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of Caohejing, Qingpu and Songjiang Export Processing Zones into comprehensive bonded zones.
 
  Links:
 
  On May 14, 2013, Lingang Industrial and Operating Area passed the pre-assessment and acceptance of opening-up which was organized by Shanghai Port Administration Office. This operating area is an important supporting project in Lingang Industrial Area. Its opening-up program has been formally approved by the State Council in October 2012.
 
  ●Regional Cooperation on Customs Clearance
 
  Shanghai has signed regional cooperation agreements on customs clearance with Jiangsu, Zhejiang, 6 provinces in Central China (Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Henan, Shanxi), Sichuan Province and Chongqing since 2006, and has established a collaboration and promotion mechanism with the participation of port (commissions) offices, port inspection units and port operation units.
 
  In March 2012, Anhui Province formally joined the regional cooperation mechanism on customs clearance in Yangtze Delta. The number of cities joining this mechanism has increased from 15 to 28.
 
  Shanghai Customs has established regional cooperation mechanism on customs clearance with 40 customs offices nationwide, and covered the reform of regional customs clearance to all customs offices in China. Since Shanghai Inspection and Quarantine Bureau launched the “Pan-Yangtze River Delta Inspection and Quarantine Cooperation Mechanism Information Platform”, it has achieved paperless and informatized collaborative handling of cross-regional and provincial inspection and quarantine business.
 

  In 2013, Shanghai will further expand the scope of cooperation between port cities in Yangtze Delta Region, implement point-to-point cooperation projects between cities and make improvement on the customs clearance cooperation mechanism between Shanghai and 6 provinces in Central China, Sichuan Province and Chongqing.