2737 Indonesian ornamental fish entered through Chengdu Tianfu International Airport

(China News) Chengdu, April 5 (Reporter Zhang Lang) An Indonesia-bound flight slowly descended and landed at Chengdu Tianfu International Airport on the 4th, and 2,737 colorful ornamental fish successfully arrived in Chengdu. This is the first time Chengdu Tianfu International Airport has imported ornamental aquatic animals since its operation, marking a new breakthrough for Chengdu air transport port in the categories of special goods entering the country, and further enhancing the logistics capacity of Chengdu as a Western international gateway hub.

Indonesian ornamental fish enter China via Chengdu Tianfu International Airport. Photo provided by Chengdu Customs

It is reported that this batch of ornamental fish mainly includes tropical marine fish varieties such as the Pomacentridae family and the Labridae family, which are highly favored by domestic aquarium enthusiasts. However, importing live aquatic animals has strict requirements for the transportation environment and for controlling import timelines, and the survival rate for long-distance cross-border transport has long been a pain point for the industry.

To ensure that these “ocean sprites” clear customs safely and quickly, after the cargo arrived, officers from Chengdu Shuangliu Airport Customs under Chengdu Customs carried out on-site inspection at the port immediately. They carefully verified the species and quantities of the ornamental fish, animal health certificates, and other documents, and strictly checked their health conditions. After the on-site inspection was passed, the cargo was swiftly transferred and taken to the designated isolation and quarantine facility.

“Customs clearance timeliness directly affects the survival rate of ornamental fish—so you could say, ‘time is life.’” Jiang Xia, the person in charge of Jinghong International Logistics (Chengdu) Co., Ltd., which handled this import, said, “As Chengdu Tianfu International Airport serves as a hub for Western ports, it has significant geographical advantages on routes to Southeast Asia. In addition, Chengdu’s abundant route resources and the coordinated and linked operation of the ‘dual airports’ give us a strong advantage in logistics costs. At the same time, efficient customs clearance support from customs makes importing very convenient. Based on the inspection and release results for the first batch of cargo, in the future we will make Chengdu the preferred city for importing ornamental fish.”

The successful import of live fish would not be possible without customs making precise efforts in quarantine supervision and customs clearance procedures. According to Chengdu Shuangliu Airport Customs, for this first business order, customs launched an “effective combination of measures” for efficient service: first, proactively moving services forward, guiding enterprises to conduct disease quarantine work before overseas loading to prevent the risk of overseas aquatic animal epidemics; second, optimizing customs clearance procedures and strongly promoting facilitation measures such as “advance declaration + two-step declaration,” implementing “inspect upon arrival and inspect immediately for release”; third, strengthening coordination at the port, working with airlines and cargo terminals to open a “green channel,” establishing a cargo information sharing mechanism, and improving port cargo logistics throughput efficiency.

The successful import of these Indonesian ornamental fish has achieved Chengdu Tianfu International Airport’s “first-deal breakthrough” in this category, laying a good foundation for attracting more cargoes with high time-sensitivity requirements to be imported via the Chengdu air transport port. (End)

Source: China News Service