First shipment departs China’s Hainan Free Trade Port under new customs rules

The first outbound shipment of goods has cleared customs and departed China's Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), the world’s largest free trade port by area, following the start of island-wide special customs operations.

On Monday, a cargo ship carrying 55.25 tons of polypropylene departed Yangpu Port in Danzhou City, becoming the first shipment to leave the port under the new customs regime.

The special customs operations at the Hainan Free Trade Port were launched on Dec. 18, allowing greater access for overseas goods, expanded zero-tariff coverage, and a range of business-friendly measures.

Under the new system, Hainan will adopt a two-tier customs supervision model, featuring freer access at the first line, regulated access at the second line, and free flow of goods within the island.

For businesses, this means goods can be shipped in batches according to operational needs, with customs declarations completed later within a specified timeframe.

"Before the port closure, each batch of our goods, including small-batch polypropylene products, involved many procedures and long processing times. Now, after the closure, we can ship goods in batches first and declare them collectively later, with a grace period of up to 56 days, significantly speeding up customs clearance. Logistically, this offers much greater flexibility and lowers overall costs," said Song Pengjun, deputy manager of the planning and operations department at Sinopec Hainan Refining and Chemical Company, the polypropylene exporter.

In addition to streamlining customs clearance, local authorities have introduced supportive measures to ensure that eligible companies can more easily complete declaration procedures and benefit from the new policies.

"To ensure the smooth and swift shipment of goods off the island, we conducted advance research into the shipping plans of relevant enterprises and established a 'one company, one policy' service mechanism. Going forward, we will continue to carry out policy briefings for enterprises in various formats and explore the implementation of more convenient customs clearance measures," said Ai Tao, director of the Comprehensive Operations Division at Yangpu Customs.

The U.S. dollar weakened in late trading on Friday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, dropped 0.34 percent to 98.982 at 15:00 (2000 GMT).

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1606 dollars from 1.1583 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound added to 1.34 dollars from 1.3328 U.S. dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 157.74 Japanese yen, lower than 157.77 Japanese yen in the previous session. The U.S. dollar decreased to 0.777 Swiss francs from 0.7827 Swiss francs, and it declined to 1.3596 Canadian dollars from 1.3697 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar dropped to 9.1855 Swedish Kronor from 9.2657 Swedish Kronor.