The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (SHFTZ) launched a "model company" selection campaign in March 2017, aiming to highlight its innovation and reform achievements over the past years. The six-month long event invited more than 80,000 SHFTZ-registered companies to sign up via self-recommendation or via recommendation from others.

After publication, application, on-site inspection, experts' voting and online voting, the campaign selected the top 10 model companies and six sample enterprises, covering foreign-funded, State-owned and private companies, which served as examples of successfully utilizing SHFTZ's innovative measures to enhance growth and development.

In addition, the SHFTZ has compiled a case book of first model companies for its policy innovation, with the hope of encouraging more companies to turn the Zone's innovative measures and preferential policies into their own advantages and growth points.

About Shanghai Yuanchu Supply Chain Management Co Ltd

Shanghai Yuanchu Supply Chain Management Co Ltd, or Yuanchu, was founded with a registered capital of five million yuan ($753,800) at Yangshan Bonded Port in 2009. It mainly engages in international cargo transportation agency and customs declaration and inspection agency, involving the fields of large-scale equipment, vehicle and parts, yacht, food, cosmetics, clothes, commodity and chemicals.

The development of Yuanchu benefited from the "single window" policy in China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, or SHFTZ. In 2014, Yuachu became the first pilot enterprise in SHFTZ to participate in the implementation of "single window" policy. In the past four years, the policy had helped Yuanchu increase the number of customs declaration forms to 7,000 from the original 2,000 and reduce the number of staff responsible for customs declaration by half from more than 70. The transparent information on customs clearance also made Yuanchu's customers more satisfied with its services.  

The measures for trade facilitation allowed enterprises to pick goods to SHFTZ before they completed the import registration procedures, cutting the duration for goods to enter SHFTZ from three days to half a day. Each time, Yuanchu imported more than 100 kinds of commodities to SHFTZ and it used to take seven workdays to go through the procedures from filing to goods picking up. After the reform, it only took Yuanchu two days to deal with the procedures.

The new policies issued by SHFTZ allowed imported goods to enter the zone as soon as possible and thus saved enterprises' costs in stockpiling or container detention. At the same time, Yuanchu was allowed to pick up goods for check before filing and declaration, which helped reduce mistakes in declaration. 

As a participant to the facilitation reform in SHFTZ, Yuanchu demonstrated how the new policies play a positive role in promoting import-related businesses and provided experience for other enterprises.