According to Xiamen Entry-exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau on  February 10, the Xiamen model of international navigation ship quarantine and supervision had saved more than 70,000 hours of staying at the harbor for the ships traveling on main international lines and accessing Xiamen Harbor as of February 2 this year after it was adopted nationwide three months ago.

The working staff of the bureau explained that the Xiamen model which features “trinity” in respect of international navigation ship quarantine management is supported by “the single window” platform of international trade at the electronic port system and the terminal platform of “ship mobile quarantine system” so that it can effectively realize the whole-process paperless operation in the customs application and clearance for ships, “the information exchange, mutual recognition of supervision and mutual assistance of law enforcement” among the units for joint inspection, and the practice of “immediate inspection and release” for ships of entry or exit. On November 2, 2016, the State Council issued a document to encourage the Xiamen model to be duplicated and spread nationwide.

Under such model, the paperless operation has been realized in the whole-process customs application and clearance for ship agencies; the practice of “immediate approval, inspection and release” has been realized at the mobile terminal during the inspection and quarantine; and the units at the port for joint inspection including inspection and quarantine, maritime, frontier inspection and customs, will immediately issue the instruction for release of ships with the support of the “single windows” for international trade.

Compared with the window model of the past which featured “one customs application for each ship, inspection application with paper documents and release by means of paper documents,” the new model has brought quite a few “bonuses” to the enterprises and passengers crossing the border. According to the statistics, such model has shortened the original one hour for applying for the customs clearance for each ship entering or exiting the border to five minutes; the cycle for the ship quarantine has been shortened from the original half a day to less than 30 minutes; and the cycle of release has been shortened from the original 30 minutes to nil. In such way the huge-amount of cost for staying at the harbor will be reduced for the ships traveling on the main international shipping lines which shall formerly pay a daily lease of 30,000 to 50,000 USD; and the average time for passengers to cross the border will be shortened to less than 0.5 hour. As the result, the customs declaration efficiency will be enhanced by four or five times, the packages to be opened for invalid inspection during which the passengers have to carry their luggage to pass the scanning machines will be reduced by 30 pieces daily, and the waiting time for luggage will be shortened to less than 0.5 hour.