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The newly opened Shanghai Free Trade Zone has started trials on a new method of customs clearance which allows cargo to be accepted by the zone before declaration.

If all works out as planned, clearance time will be cut by two or three days, and an average of 10 per cent of logistics cost will be saved, reports Xinhua.

The zone recently welcomed the first consignment of freight weighing 499 tonnes and valuing US$3.59 million, which entered the zone before shippers made a customs declaration.

When a truck of a local forwarder carrying a container arrived at the gate of the free trade zone, the driver did not leave the truck as usual, but placed bar coded delivery notice on a scanner and was "beeped" into the zone.

The new system enables shippers and forwarders to apply for delivery permission online before entry, where upon they are given a bar-coded delivery notice with which they gain entry, settling customs clearance within 14 days.

Qiu Haiying said that a more relaxed customs control will be the basis of sound and effective supervision.

So far, six companies inside the free trade zone have been selected to take part in the trial scheme, which will universally applied when glitches and bugs are discovered the eliminated.