The vehicles carrying goods arrive in Hong Kong from Fujian within 24 hours. [Photo/Xiamen Daily]

On July 17, three vehicles carrying exports simultaneously left three locations in Southeast China's Fujian province for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region via the Shenzhen Port in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, with approval from Xiamen Customs. 

This marked the official launch of the Fujian-Guangdong-Hong Kong Single E-lock Scheme (SELS).

SELS is a convenient cross-border customs clearance model which integrates the Speedy Customs Clearance System of the General Administration of Customs with the Intermodal Transhipment Facilitation Scheme (ITFS) of Hong Kong.

Under this model, deep cooperation among Fujian, Guangdong and Hong Kong is facilitated by employing GPS, electronic locks, and other IoT equipment to monitor transport vehicles in real-time throughout the entire process, allowing for automatic determination of arrival, inspection, and release at checkpoints.

In contrast to traditional road customs clearance models, SELS involves customs inspection of imports and exports by the customs authorities of Hong Kong and Xiamen, with Shenzhen Customs implementing automatic clearance en route. This way, the goods pass through the road ports of the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong without the need to change vehicles or locks. It allows for automatic and rapid inspection and release.

By enabling vehicles to complete a round trip within 24 hours, SELS reduces logistics costs by approximately 28 percent and shortens customs clearance time by 30 percent, helping businesses in the three regions expand market, , as well as stabilize and optimize supply chains.