Global Fruits & Vegetables Inbound Digital Trade Center, owned by China Merchants Port Group, was put into use recently to provide efficient, convenient and standard services for fruit and vegetable merchants.
It will also help the city’s western port area to build the largest fruit and vegetable port in South China, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.
The trade center, managed by the southern operation center of China Merchant Port Group, is across the road from Mawan Smart Port.
It uses cloud computing, big data and smart terminal technology to build an integrated digital trading ecosystem for fruit and vegetable production, supply and sales to expand the South China fruit and vegetable port value chain.
Blockchain technology and real-time producer big data are also used to allow quality check tracking at producers and sourcing other plantation information to ensure product quality.
At the same time, the trade center supports remote viewing of goods on the internet and online order placement to reduce the information asymmetry phenomenon, efficiently match production and marketing, and reduce customer operating costs.
Propelled by consumption upgrade, imported fruits including cherries, kiwis, durians and mangosteens arrived at the city’s western port via over 190 sea routes. The area has thus become the first choice for many imported fruit dealers.
Shenzhen's western port area started expanding its imported fruit business since 2009 and has deepened cooperation with key traders and intermediaries such as Chilean Cherry Association and Hema Fresh, and launched sea routes to transport cherries.
The western port area’s import and export throughput reached 153,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) last year, with a trade value of US$3 billion. It is expected that its fruit throughput will reach a new high of 180,000 TEUs this year, with a cargo value of over US$ 3.6 billion, according to the report.
With joint efforts by Shekou Customs, the western port area, shipping companies and agents, it takes five minutes at the fastest for products to leave port and about 10 minutes to finish a transaction at the trade center.
The trade center will further enrich people’s fruit choices with cheaper prices, the report said.