A batch of garments declared for export by Yantai Qili Group was neatly arranged at Shidao Port in Rongcheng on July 9. Workers packed the goods into containers one by one, which were then exported to Japan through the China-Japan-Korea "Sea Express".

"Our company has been exporting clothing through this route since 2010. Japanese buyers can get the goods in about 40 hours. The route is not only fast, but also reasonable in price," said Li Chunfang, the company's manager.

The route mentioned by Li is also called the "40-hour Sea Express Route." Song Li, deputy commissioner of Rongcheng Customs, noted that an increasing number of companies are choosing to transport goods through the route due to its advantages in speed and price.

According to statistics from Rongcheng Customs, the volume of import and export containers loaded and transported through the route increased by 15.8 percent year-on-year in the first five months of this year.

In recent years, Shandong has taken "building a new hub for opening up" as one of its eight development strategies. It has accelerated the shaping of new advantages in an open economic system and mechanism.

In order to seize opportunities, as well as deepen economic and trade cooperation between Shandong and the contracting parties of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, the provincial government issued a preliminary action plan in April this year.

Shandong has actively integrated into this new wave of international cooperation by innovating and developing trade in goods, implementing its RCEP "6-hour customs clearance" measure, as well as accelerating the building of a "golden channel" of trade logistics. 

Yantai-basedd Doosan Construction Machinery (China) Co is a multinational company invested in by South Korea's Doosan Group that mainly produces construction machinery. The excavators and other machinery that it produced need spare parts purchased from South Korea, Japan, as well as other countries.

"In the past, if our company wanted to enjoy the tariff reduction or exemption policies of the free trade agreement, we had to apply for the certificate of origin in the parts producing country to receive tariff preferences. After the RCEP took effect, we can receive tariff reduction or exemption by issuing an independent declaration of origin, which not only saves time in handling formalities, but also improves the efficiency of goods imports," said Wei Wei, customs manager of Doosan Construction Machinery (China) Co. 

He added that thanks to the signing of the RCEP and the help of Yantai Customs, the company can save nearly 60 million yuan ($9.28 million) in tax expenditures annually for imported excavator spare parts, greatly reducing the company's production costs.

In order to help more companies make good use of the preferential policies of origin, Shandong Customs has conducted online and offline publicity and training, guided enterprises to prepare for the implementation of the RCEP, as well as further promoted cross-border trade business.

In the first half of the year, Qingdao Customs and Jinan Customs issued certificates of origin for 391,000 batches of export goods in the province, with a value of 120.97 billion yuan. 

Relevant enterprises can enjoy 4.27 billion yuan of preferential tariff reductions from free trade partners. It can reduce 4.73 billion yuan in tax expenditures for the original goods of free trade partners, with a value of 57.52 billion yuan.

Zheng Shilin, an associate researcher of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that in terms of future global economic development, regional economic cooperation will become an important means for all countries.

The degree of regional cooperation liberalization is increasing and the requirements for trade facilitation are also getting higher. Shandong should deepen regional economic cooperation more actively, further build and unblock international and regional logistics channels, as well as create new advantages, Zheng added.