A truck for TIR transport stops at the Yiwu Express (Cross-border) Supervision Center. [Photo/zgyww.cn]

A batch of cross-border e-commerce parcels was successfully returned to sellers in Yiwu — a county-level city in Jinhua, Zhejiang province — through an international customs transit system known as Transports Internationaux Routiers, or TIR, on July 16.

The return marked the launch of the cross-customs district return model through the TIR system in Zhejiang.

The goods, returned due to order cancellations, weighed 2.6 metric tons and were worth nearly 700,000 yuan ($97,513). They had previously been exported through Horgos Port to Moscow.

TIR, the world's only customs clearance system for cross-border freight, simplifies clearance procedures and improves efficiency, promoting trade facilitation and international transport safety.

Ke Jianqiang, customs manager of Youla (Hangzhou) International Supply Chain Company, said the return model allows companies to choose return ports more flexibly.

"This return model fills the gap in cargo load on TIR return trips from Russia to Yiwu and cuts logistics costs by 40 percent compared to air freight," said Ye Zhengyang, an official with the Yiwu Customs.

He added that the policy helps logistics firms in Yiwu to optimize routes and provide customers with more efficient, lower-cost services.

To enhance the return efficiency through TIR, Yiwu Customs has set up a coordination mechanism and introduced an appointment-based clearance service available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to significantly reduce clearance times.