Hong Kong handler targets online business

Hong Kong Air Cargo Industry Services (Hacis) – the added-value logistics arm of Hong Kong’s largest air cargo handler, Hactl – has opened an e-commerce depot in Guangdong Free Trade Zone.
The Hacis Nansha depot, in southern Guangzhou, and the handler’s seventh inland cargo terminal in mainland China, will become the latest destination for its SuperLink China Direct express road feeder service for general and cross-border e-commerce cargo. It will also support B2B and B2C business with simplified customs declaration and clearance.
Air cargo arriving in Hong Kong will be trucked in bond to Nansha in three hours, using customs e-seals. Consignees can perform customs formalities according to the cargo flow at destination.
The cargo management and customs clearance systems have been integrated to provide real-time information exchange and have been tested with trial runs before carrying commercial freight.
Nansha became China’s sixth State-level New Area in 2012, and enjoys preferential policies for tax, land management, financial innovation and industrial development. It is one of eight pilot cross-border e-commerce zones approved by the Chinese Government, and is becoming a favoured location for logistics facilities, leading the economic transformation and development of the Pearl River Delta.
In order to cater for the needs of cross-border e-commerce business, customs procedures in Nansha are simplified and clearance is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Cargo arriving at the Nansha bonded area can be handled at piece level; imported goods are temporarily stored in the bonded warehouse and then delivered to online customers.
Imported e-commerce cargo, when leaving the bonded area pays only the ‘luggage and postal item tax’ and not general cargo levies such as value-added and consumption tax.
Hacis managing director, Vivien Lau says: “Chinese consumers are increasingly seeking overseas commodities such as healthcare products and foodstuffs, and ordering these online.
“As the e-commerce market matures and becomes more price-driven, fulfilment is moving closer to the market to achieve economies of scale and cost reductions in logistics. Hong Kong has the global air services needed by this growing business, and Hacis’ opportunity is to provide reliable and highly-cost-efficient onward connections to the new generation of e-commerce fulfilment centres in China.”
She added that Nansha’s closeness to Hong Kong creates huge business potential – it has the additional land that the Hong Kong logistics industry needs, and Hong Kong provides expertise in modern logistics.
Lau concluded: “The Guangdong Free Trade Zone will open new opportunities for us. We believe that stronger ties with nearby mainland cities like Nansha will create increased value to Hacis airline and forwarder customers.”