A TIR truck loaded with branded milk tea has completed customs declaration and inspection at the TIR Consolidation Center in the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) and is preparing to depart for Moscow, with the shipment expected to reach buyers in about 10 days. The SCODA Administrative Committee has indicated to the press that the zone maintained its national lead in TIR dispatches in 2025 with 435 truck trips for the year, up 53.7% year on year. Cargo volume totaled 7,657.7 tonnes, an increase of 76.3%, while the value of goods shipped rose 43.3% to 280 million yuan.
TIR, short for the Transport International Routier or International Road Transport system, is an international customs transit regime established under the United Nations Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under Cover of TIR Carnets. Vehicles holding TIR carnets can clear customs efficiently across contracting countries through a single declaration, a single document, and direct point-to-point transport, significantly reducing transshipment and cargo handling time at border crossings. Compared with traditional road transport, the TIR model can cut overall logistics costs by about 20%.
This faster and more flexible logistics model has gained strong market traction as China upgrades its foreign trade structure and cross-border e-commerce expands rapidly to drive a steady rise in shipments. “Many clients are working against tight deadlines and therefore choose our TIR services,” said Deputy General Manager of Qingdao West Coast Lida Logistics Zhao Jiaqi. “Both cargo security and delivery speed are assured, thanks to TIR’s efficient customs clearance mechanism. Demand is growing not only from Qingdao but also from across Shandong Province and neighboring regions.”
The SCODA has attracted 31 TIR-qualified transport fleets with a combined capacity of 552 vehicles to date, handling more than 40 categories of goods including food and electronic equipment. “Jiaozhou Customs has continued to innovate its regulatory approach to meet the needs of more business formats,” said Deputy Chief of the customs office Song Tao. “We achieved two-way TIR operations and completed Shandong Province’s first ‘TIR+9610’ export transaction in 2025,” he added, further saying that customs authorities will be exploring more applications in 2026 to combine TIR with cross-border e-commerce, open fast return channels for TIR vehicles, and further enhance trade facilitation.
The first TIR transport corridor from the SCODA was launched in September 2023 with 4 international road routes—linking China with Russia, Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Belarus—have been put into operation over the past two years, forming the foundation of a regional hub for international road transport. A total of 727 TIR truck trips have been dispatched during this period, carrying 12,000 tonnes of cargo worth 480 million yuan with growth maintaining strong momentum.
