GUANGZHOU Baiyun Airport has started an electronic customs clearance system that stands to divert transshipments that go through Hong Kong Airport today, reports Logistics Week.

What used to take one to two hours has been cut back to one or two minutes, said one company general manager

US-based Northwest Airlines cargo chief for Greater China Lei Shengchuan said he 20 per cent of Northwest transshipments using Hong Kong Airport today would soon go through Guangzhou because of this, adding that his company is considering more all-cargo flights to and from Guangzhou.

Under electronic customs clearance, shippers and forwarders will fill a single uniform electronic cargo manifest, and a state-of-the-art inspection facility will be ready at the gate of a customs-supervised warehouse.