By the middle of June, a batch of freighters loaded with hemp pole carbon set sail at Chittagong, Bangladesh and arrived nonstop at Yichang Yunchi Port and then entered Yichang Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center to complete the customs declaration after sailing one month along the “Belt and Road Initiative” route.

　　After that, these empty cases will carry such local agricultural products as Zigui navel orange and Wufeng tea leaves to countries and regions around the world.

　　Why can this non-border city Yichang drive the development of the whole world? Li Xiangchun, the officer director of Yichang Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center, said that all of this can be attributed to the innovation of business mode and regulation system.

　　In 2017, Yichang Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center completed 867 of customs declaration, achieving 0.518 billion of the regulation value. In the first half of this year, customs have been completed 963 with the regulation value 0.503 billion yuan, achieving the target task for the whole year by 120% and 83.8% separately. This is an increase of 453.4% and 582.6% compared with the same period last year.

　　The financial supply chain solving the enterprise’s financing problem

　　“In the past when we operated customs declaration in Jingzhou, we must pay the import tariff on delivery. However in last year we once paid more than 0.6 million at one time. After the custom declaration at Yichang Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center, the payment of import tariff and add-value tax can be deferred and it is also more convenient for the enterprises to apply for loans and open the Letter of Credit on a commission basis.” Liu Lixin, the business manager of Yichang Shengpin Grease Co., Ltd, said that both the banks applying for loans and the listed enterprises in Shanghai commissioned to open the Letter of Credit attach great importance to SME background of Yichang Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center. That is the reason why the business back flows to Yichang.

　　As a comprehensive grease processing enterprise, Yichang Shengpin Grease Co., Ltd has to import rapeseed and rapeseed meal worth 0.5 billion yuan from places like Canada and Australia every year and always suffer from liquidity constraints. Taking Yichang Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center as the stock warehouse, it can realize partial shipment and payment, zoom in trading leverage and improve capital utilization. When there is capital shortage, only 20% of the margins are needed to entrust the center to import and open Usance Letter of Credit so as to relieve the shortage of liquidity in the enterprises.

　　In order to solve the financing problem of SME, Yichang Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center has exclusively created the financial mode of supply chain and innovatively launched several financial products with banks such as Pledge by Warehouse Receipts, Credit Guarantee, Entrusted Import and Export and Account Receivable Financing to provide a series of financing services for foreign trade enterprises in the center.

　　At present, the center offers financial value-added derivative services to nearly 20 enterprises in Yichang and its surrounding areas via many innovative products such as “Export Credit”, Order Financing, Credit Insurance Financing, Entrusted Letter of Credit ,etc.

　　Various modes of transportation vitalizing Yangtze economic belt.

　　“It is very convenient. By land short-distance transportation, at least ten days of transportation have been shortened bypassing Three Gorges Dam.” Jian Yonghong, director of Chongqing Xinlifeng Electronics Company sang praises for the drop and pull transport business conducted by Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center.

　　Situated at Shizhu County, Chongqing, this company usually ships its good across Chongqing Wanzhou Port by Yangtze River Waterway, and then to Shanghai bypassing Three Gorges Dam, and finally reach abroad by marine transportation. During the dry season or reservoir maintenance period, ships loaded with goods have to be held up at Three Gorges Dam for even two months, leading to frequently delayed delivery.

　　On June 20th, Chongqing Xinlifeng Electronics Company put a batch of containers loaded with routers and computer spare parts on Ro-Ro ships which arrived at Maoping Wharf after three days. At Maoping Port, it took three hours to put containers on the trailer before transferring to Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center via Fanba Highway. On June 25th, the goods have completed customs declaration and then been carried to Yunchi Port. Only five days was spent in the whole process from shipment to export, which has shorten the transportation time and lowered the comprehensive costs of the enterprises.

　　Yichang is the key factor for the Yangtze River’s connectivity and Yangtze River in turn influences the development of China.

　　Through multi modal transport, the drop and pull transport business has optimized the allocation of transportation resources, solved the problem of inland shipping retardation in the Yangtze river, dredged shipping routes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, attracting more and more foreign enterprises there to be in Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center.

　　Converging open advantage and joining in the Belt and Road Initiative

　　“From goods customs declaration to port exit, the distance is less than two kilometers. It is really quick, convenient and money-saving.” Songzi Liyuan Technology Company has benefited a lot from the quick export of Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center.

　　The company stores up the import raw materials from India and then picks up goods to industry in batches as requested where products such as dye and dye stabilizer are produced. After that, these products are exported to nations alongside the Belt and Road by shipment. Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center takes the initiatives to dock Shanghai Free Trade Zone and integrates into the "Belt and Road Initiatives" circle of friends, attracting a large number of foreign enterprises to enter this center.

　　Citrus produced by Xiaoxihong Company and pianos manufactured by Jinbao Instrument Manufacturing Co., Ltd all take the Yichang-Wuhan-Europe special train from here, ready to be sold around the world. The imported Shengpin grease has come back from Jinzhou. With the annual imports of 2000 plus containers, the shortage of the empty containers for Yichang export can be significantly relieved and the structure of import and export in Yichang can also be further optimized.

　　The Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center has not only strongly radiated West Hubei, but also changed the route of Giya Commerce Co., Ltd in Bangladesh. Giya Commerce has even given up customs declaration at Shanghai Port but chosen to arrive at Yunchi Port directly and it meant to establish a hemp pole carbon delivery center in Yichang covering the whole country, where the hemp pole carbon is delivered to every corner of China as needed.

　　Innovation empowering the world. The Three Gorges Bonded Logistics Center has innovated the way of opening up, cultivated its advantage and striven to build an international platform to promote Yichang’s internalization.

　　Now, the unblocked logistics passage has also maximized the integration and transmission of information flow, capital flow and cargo flow, ushering in a new era when Yichang conducts in-depth integration into the world economy. (Reporter Zhouhanfei; correspondent Lin Jinjin, Wang Wei and Zheng Kaiyue)