Containers await shipment at Yangpu Port in Hainan. [Photo/VCG]

Due to the rapid development of air and sea transportation, Hainan province's foreign trade has made great strides in recent years.

Hainan Gold Hongye Paper, for instance, chooses the direct route from Yangpu Port in Hainan to Khalifa Port in the United Arab Emirates for exporting goods every month. By eliminating detours, the travel time is halved compared with that before the opening of the route, saving at least 200,000 yuan ($27,845) per trip.

In recent years, Hainan has implemented highly liberal and convenient transportation policies, promoted the construction of international shipping and aviation hubs of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and accelerated the establishment of a modern comprehensive transportation system for Hainan Free Trade Port.

Yangpu Port has stabilized the operation of 60 domestic and foreign trade routes. The three large airports on the island province have opened nearly 70 international passenger and cargo routes.

Busier Air Transportation

Since May 30, Hainan has further intensified air transportation on traditional routes between Haikou and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and between Haikou and Hong Kong. The former now operates eight flights per week, and the latter has increased its flights to 35 per week, meeting the strong demand for trade and tourism.

New routes were also launched. On May 7, Hainan Airlines' HU7911 flight to London took off from Haikou Meilan International Airport. It is the first fully operational direct passenger flight route from Hainan Free Trade Port to London, reducing one-way flight time by about 4.5 hours compared to the previous route, which involves a transfer.

Zhu Li, general manager of the international department of the marketing committee at Hainan Airlines Holding, said: "We will spare no effort to open routes to the main sources of Hainan's global customers."

Hainan Airlines has now opened international and regional routes from Haikou to Seattle, London, Moscow, Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Dubai, Singapore, Bangkok, Vientiane, Tokyo, Osaka, Hong Kong and Macao.

Hainan is backed by a vast domestic market, and it is close to Southeast Asia and facing the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Hainan is within four hours flight circle of 21 countries and regions in Asia, which account for about 47 percent of the global population and approximately 30 percent of the world's GDP. It is within eight hours flight circle of 59 countries and regions, which cover about 67 percent of the global population and around 41 percent of the world's GDP.

The Shipping Expansion

With regard to sea transport, Yangpu Port recently welcomed its 60th locally registered vessel for international shipping — a ship owned by Hainan Yuanhai International Shipping. It completed registration procedures on May 26.

Shipping companies favor Yangpu Port because of the high value brought by the "registration". The "zero tariff" policy for transportation vessels and yachts in Hainan Free Trade Port benefits companies importing vessels built overseas, and domestically built vessels can enjoy an export tax rebate. The export tax rebate policy can help a company cut its ship procurement costs by more than 11 percent.

Cai Yinghong, director of the Hainan International Ship Registration Bureau, said: "The ship registry system of Yangpu Port is among the most important policies for the opening-up of the shipping industry in the Hainan Free Trade Port."

Drawing on advanced practices of well-known domestic and foreign ports for ship registries, Hainan has focused on overcoming the difficulties and bottlenecks in international ship registration and supervision services, exploring and forming a series of integrated innovative institutional achievements, Cai said.

The establishment of the Hainan International Ship Registration Bureau in November 2024 marked the official start of the country's only international ship registration management institution, and the development of Yangpu as a port of registry has entered a new stage. The number of vessels registered in Yangpu Port has reached 60, with a total capacity of more than 5.83 million deadweight tons, ranking first in China.

The improved international transportation services in Hainan have boosted the exports of local products. Locally produced lychees in Haikou, Hainan's capital, labeled "Volcanic Lychee", were recently exported to Canada in bulk, opening a new international market and creating new space for foreign trade development.

Thanks to the convenient international transportation network, this fruit was flown across the Pacific from Haikou Meilan International Airport to Vancouver, bringing fresh lychees to the tables of foreign customers.

In the first five months of this year, Haikou Customs records show it had supervised more than 200 shipments of lychee exports, with a value of over 53 million yuan, sent to countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Singapore and Thailand.

"The phytosanitary certificate is a key document required for lychee exports to foreign countries," said a representative of a Hainan-based fruit company, adding that benefiting from the "cloud issuance" model promoted by the customs, company personnel can obtain certificates without leaving their offices, significantly reducing the time for export and enhancing competitiveness.

A Hainan Golden Spring Foods staff member in charge of customs affairs said: "We export frozen products by sea, and Japan is one of our main export destinations. This year, our company has increased efforts to explore new markets and promote foreign trade for development.”

In the first four months this year, Hainan exported aquatic products worth 1.12 billion yuan, an increase of 7 percent compared with the same period last year. The values for exports to the EU, Japan, Canada and the UK respectively increased by 56.2 percent, 7.4 percent, 75.9 percent, and 90.6 percent.

With more convenient transportation, Hainan's industry chains are more closely linked globally, integrating into the dual circulation of domestic and international markets, and Hainan's opening-up continues to expand.

Source: Official WeChat of Doing Business in Hainan