A view of Deqing port, an inland river port in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat account: huzhoufabu]

Over 3 million yuan ($461,538) worth of polyester filament yarn was recently loaded onto an overseas-bound vessel in Deqing port, Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province.

It was just one hour after the goods was transported by a truck from eleswhere to the port.

The expedited customs clearance was made possible with the launch of a new customs clearance policy.

In the past, exports had to be unloaded at a designated spot in Deqing port before being loaded onto ships following the completion of custom clearance procedures. The entire process usually took one to two days, and enterprises had to pay for storage during the period, according to Tan Ying, an employee at Huzhou Zhebei Customs Declaration Co Ltd.

The new policy allows enterprises to declare and go through customs formalities in advance, thus shortening the clearance process.

Its implementation will not only reduce the customs clearance time for exports, but also alleviate the port's congestion to some extent, noted an official at Huzhou Customs.

Official statistics show that Huzhou's foreign trade volume in the first quarter for the year rose 17.4 percent year-on-year to 35.79 billion yuan, with exports soaring 18.2 percent to 32.99 billion yuan.