The transport authorities in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui have jointly published a notice to mutually recognize six types of transport licenses and certificates across the Yangtze River Delta (consisting of the aforementioned places) from Sept 1.

The six types of documents are qualification certificates for road (passenger or freight) transport practitioners, business licenses for road (passenger or freight) transport, road (passenger or freight) transport certificates, business licenses for transporting ordinary cargo in domestic water routes, business licenses for ships, and certificates for inland river ships.

"The Zhejiang-issued certificates for inland river ships are now accepted in Shanghai and Jiangsu," Xu Guoxing, deputy general manager of a Huzhou-based logistics company, told reporters when he was applying for the certificate for one of his company's cargo ships at the Huzhou Administrative Service Center on the afternoon of Sept 1.

In 2018, Zhejiang started to pilot a reform in the cities of Hangzhou and Huzhou to merge seven different certificates for ships, which involve separate paperwork for ownership, nationality, quality test, etc., into one single certificate, in both paper and electronic forms.

"The new certificate records all the necessary information and eliminates the need for many administrative procedures; however, the system has been rejected by other provinces in the past, which has meant a lot of inconvenience for us," Xu said. His company has 72 cargo ships, which mainly transport cement clinker, coal, and containers. More than half of the ships pass through Jiangsu and Shanghai every day.

Xu told reporters that the latest reform in the Yangtze River Delta region has alleviated most of his concerns.

To create a business-friendly environment, the transport authorities in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui will allow its residents to obtain these six types of documents via mobile apps and show the electronic versions of the documents on their cellphones upon request by law-enforcement officers across the Yangtze River Delta.