In the small hours of June 17, a cargo plane carrying 39.6 tons of imports arrived at Hangzhou International Airport from Billund, Denmark. After being inspected and quickly cleared by the customs, the goods were transferred to Shanghai, Beijing and other places through “cargo flights.” 

In the first five months, the customs of Hangzhou International Airport supervised 4,039 cargo flights, registering a total of 9,108.65 tons of goods, an increase of 78.3% and 16.6%, respectively. Together with the increase of cargo flights, the Airport’s air cargo volume also rose. Within the first five months, its air cargo volume reached 55,800 tons, up 2.32% year on year and May witnessed a 15.87% increase than April.

“Truck flights” are fixed ground transportation routes operated by airlines to carry large amounts of cargo between the place of departure and transit terminals or between transit terminals and destinations. It takes advantage of the low prices and flexibility of truck mobility and the high efficiency of air services, meets the need of enterprises for high-end logistics and marks a form of land-air transportation. It is calculated that compared with direct flights for single shipments from foreign countries to domestic destinations, multiple shipments of goods transported together to Hangzhou International Airport and then to domestic destinations through “truck flights,” the shipping cost per kilogram is expected to decrease by 10% -15%.

Truck flights in the airport have been developing rapidly. More routes were added, totaling to 44, with the frequency adjusted from three times a week to five times a week. To ensure efficient operation of “truck flights,” customs of Hangzhou International Airport established a 7x24 clearance service, and developed an emergency response plan for cargo flights to handle emergencies encountered during transportation. At the same time, to accelerate the goods transfer efficiency, intelligent checkpoints and other technological facilities were leveraged to realize entry, transfer, arrival and clearance of cargo flight goods within one day. What’s more, the Airport customs actively supports business cooperation among airlines, freight stations, freight forwarders, and comprehensive bonded zones in Zhejiang and has established relations with 18 customs supervision points to expand the “truck flights”, assist Hangzhou’s airport in developing international cargo transportation, and thus serve the integrated development of international logistics in the Yangtze River Delta.