Jiaxing Port recently got the green light from the General Administration of Customs to establish a facility for the supervision of imported chilled seafood, live seafood, and fruits. This decision will allow for the direct importation of these goods from the Zhapu port area in Jiaxing, diversifying the city's imports.

The site covers an area of 120,000 square meters and has a storage capacity of 120,000 metric tons for refrigerated and frozen goods. 

According to Zhang Hai from Jiaxing Customs, the imported chilled seafood includes salmon and tuna, while the imported live seafood consists of king crabs and lobsters. Cherries and durians are among the key varieties of imported fruit.

In the past, it was necessary for these goods to be imported from Shanghai, Ningbo, Guangdong and Fujian ports, incurring longer transit times and higher costs. Now, they can be shipped to Zhapu port and undergo customs inspection on site.

According to Xu Zhongwei, general manager of Zhejiang Zhongrun Interconnect Supply Chain Co Ltd, with the relevant import qualifications, storage and logistics costs can be greatly reduced, reducing the average retail prices of imported seafood and fruits on the Jiaxing market by about 20 percent. For example, king crabs imported from Russia could potentially cost around 200 yuan ($28.01) per kilogram, which is 30 to 50 percent cheaper than before.

In addition, the approval will also help attract more businesses to the port area, such as traders, e-commerce, food processing, and supply chain finance, creating a more complete cold chain logistics industrial chain.