The gap in the maritime shipping routes for cross-border e-commerce exports from Shanghai port has finally been filled.
On July 19, at the Zhendong Container Terminal in Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port Area, a batch of containers loaded with 566 items of domestic furniture, daily necessities and travel sets destined for Northeast Asia marked the successful opening of Shanghai's cross-border e-commerce "9610" maritime export.
The customs supervision code "9610" represents the "cross-border trade e-commerce" model. This model is tailored for B2C (business-to-consumer) orders in cross-border e-commerce involving small packages, multiple product names and high-frequency shipments.
Previously, leveraging Shanghai's dense network of international flight routes and the rapid growth of "domestic products going overseas," Shanghai's air port has seen double-digit growth in cross-border e-commerce exports for several consecutive years.
Compared to air freight, sea freight can handle larger volumes and fewer restrictions on exported goods, offering significant cost advantages. Ren Wenlei, general manager of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port Comprehensive Free Trade Zone Development Co Ltd, said that the newly opened maritime export route provides more diverse logistics options for cross-border e-commerce companies exporting low-value-added, high-volume packages from Shanghai port.
At the same time, Shanghai's cross-border e-commerce air exports continue to surge. In the first half of this year, the volume of cross-border e-commerce exports declared at Shanghai air port reached 245 million parcels, a 36 percent increase year-on-year, with a total value of 40.7 billion yuan (US$6.49 billion) and a weight of 219,900 tons.
These figures mean that, on average, Shanghai handles 1.34 million cross-border e-commerce parcels by air export every day, with the majority of overseas buyers coming from Europe and America.
