Guangdong-Shanghai rail-sea corridor launches with first export shipment

A consignment of light‑industrial goods manufactured in Guangdong, including garments and small household appliances, was loaded onto an international cargo vessel at a Waigaoqiao Port terminal in Shanghai for export to the North‑American market on Wednesday.

Supervised by Guangzhou Customs, the cargo was to be transported via the new rail‑sea inter-modal model from Guangzhou International Port to the railway container terminal at Luchao Port in Shanghai before being transferred to an ocean‑going vessel, said a statement released by Guangzhou Customs.

"It marks the first batch of export goods shipped after the official operation of Guangdong's first Guangdong‑Shanghai rail‑sea inter-modal foreign‑trade logistics corridor," said the statement.

Prior to the new model, foreign‑trade cargo exported from the Pearl River Delta via Shanghai Port was limited to road transport during the domestic leg of the trip, leaving it vulnerable to volatile transit time and inefficient customs coordination across multiple links.

The new rail‑sea inter-modal route improves clearance efficiency with smoother cargo turnover and cuts logistics costs for each export container by around 20 percent, said Wang Wenping, a business executive in Guangzhou. "Compared with previous practices, the new corridor features stable railway capacity and predictable transit lead‑time."

Kang Qi, an officer of the supervision section with Guangzhou Station Customs, praised the new transport scheme, saying that by switching to train, export customs declaration procedures can now be completed at the Guangzhou International Port Station, removing the need to repeat the process at Luchao Port.

To ensure the smooth operation of the new rail‑sea inter-modal corridor, Guangzhou Customs has strengthened cross‑customs‑region coordination, deepened regulatory business alignment between Guangzhou and Shanghai customs authorities, improved the whole‑chain coordination mechanism, and completed end‑to‑end data stress tests, said Kang.