May 16th was a milestone day for Xiamen Port. On this day, the ZIM CONDOR, loaded with machinery, building materials, shoes and clothing, set sail from Xiamen Port International Container Terminal. This historic moment marked the official opening of the first direct flight from Fujian Province to Ecuador, ZAT route, and also built a new "maritime express lane" between Xiamen and South America🛳️
1. Xiamen Port’s route layout is upgraded again
As of April this year, Xiamen Port has a very rich foreign trade route map, with 142 foreign trade routes opened, including 2 South American routes. These routes are like the Silk Road on the sea, connecting 11 ports in 5 Latin American countries (including 3 South American countries). The newly opened ZAT route, as Xiamen Port’s third South American route, further strengthens the connection between Xiamen Port and South America, making Xiamen Port more important in the international shipping map.
2. Efficient and stable “maritime express lane”
The ZAT route is exclusively operated by ZIM Shipping. In order to provide customers with the best service, ZIM Shipping has invested a total of 11 4,000-5,000 TEU ships and implemented a stable operation mode of one flight per week, just like a scheduled train on the sea, rain or shine. By carefully optimizing the speed and port sequence, this route has greatly improved the shipping efficiency, shortening the transportation time from Fujian to the west coast of South America by at least 7 days, becoming the container liner route with the shortest voyage time from Fujian to Latin American countries.
From Xiamen Port, it only takes 25 days for goods to arrive at Buenaventura Port in Colombia (10 days faster than the market average), 28 days to Guayaquil Port in Ecuador, 32 days to Callao Port in Peru (7 days faster than the market average), and 37 days to San Antonio Port in Chile (7 days faster than the market average). Such efficient transportation speed makes trade between Xiamen and South America more convenient, saves a lot of time costs for enterprises, and improves market competitiveness.
3. A trade bridge that meets diverse needs
This route focuses on ensuring the shipment of high value-added products such as new energy vehicles, machinery and equipment, building materials, and cross-border e-commerce goods to Latin American countries. With the development of the global economy and the change in consumption patterns, the demand for these products in the South American market is growing. The opening of the ZAT route has opened the door to the South American market for China's high-quality products, allowing more Chinese companies to promote their products to a wider international market.
At the same time, this route is also open to accepting bookings for special containers such as dangerous goods containers and frozen containers, fully considering the transportation needs of different goods and meeting the diverse transportation needs of customers. Whether it is high-tech electronic products or fresh agricultural products, they can be safely and efficiently transported to the destination through this route.
4. Helping China-Latin America economic and trade cooperation reach a new level
The economic and trade cooperation between China and Latin America has always been very close, and the opening of the ZAT route has undoubtedly injected new vitality into the cooperation between China and Latin America. It not only effectively promoted the economic and trade exchanges between China and Latin American countries, helped China-Latin America capacity cooperation to reach a new level, but also injected new momentum into the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
Through this route, China's high-quality products can enter the South American market more quickly and conveniently to meet the needs of local consumers; and South America's rich resources and specialty products can be transported to China more efficiently, enriching the supply of the Chinese market. The trade between the two sides will become more frequent, and the areas of cooperation will continue to expand.
5. New advantages of "route + customs clearance" dual-wheel drive service
While the routes are operating efficiently, the port units have also introduced supporting customs clearance facilitation measures. Customs and other relevant departments have optimized the customs clearance process and improved customs clearance efficiency, allowing goods to pass customs quickly and reduce the time they stay at the port. This new service advantage of "route + customs clearance" dual-wheel drive provides companies with better quality and more efficient logistics services, further enhancing the attractiveness of Xiamen Port in the international shipping market.
The opening of the Xiamen direct flight to South America is a new starting point for the development of Xiamen Port. It has built a more convenient bridge for economic and trade exchanges between China and Latin America, and injected "Xiamen speed" and "China efficiency" into the global supply chain. I believe that in the future, with the continuous development and improvement of this route, it will play a more important role in promoting China-Latin America economic and trade cooperation and promoting global economic development. Let us look forward to this new maritime channel creating more glory! 🌟