What Are the Common Problems in Tianjin Import Customs Clearance? How to Solve Quickly

Background and Difficulties of Customs Clearance for Southeast Asian Agricultural Products Imported to Tianjin

In 2026,as an important import hub in northern China,Tianjin Port’s import volume of Southeast Asian agricultural products increased by 18% compared with 2023.Among them,tropical fruits such as durian and mangosteen,and palm oil account for more than 40% of the total.Many enterprises report that imports of such agricultural products are often delayed for customs clearance or even returned due to inconsistent documents and unclear quarantine requirements.For example,last year a food trading company imported durian from Thailand.The "orchard filing number" on the phytosanitary certificate did not meet the port requirements,resulting in 3 days of cargo detention,partial deterioration of durian,and a loss of more than 100,000 RMB.

Core Role of Zhongshen in Customs Clearance of Imported Agricultural Products in Tianjin

Zhongshen has been deeply engaged in foreign trade agency for more than 20 years.According to the characteristics of Southeast Asian agricultural products imported through Tianjin Port,it has built a full-process system of "preliminary pre-review + port docking + commodity inspection coordination".Its core advantage is to predict the unique risks of agricultural product import in advance,such as cold treatment requirements for tropical fruits and aflatoxin detection standards for palm oil,so as to avoid enterprises stepping into pitfalls in customs clearance.

Process Disassembly and Compliance Requirements for Southeast Asian Agricultural Products Import Customs Clearance in Tianjin

1.Document Pre-review Stage

Document requirements for Southeast Asian agricultural products are stricter than that for ordinary goods.Please note the core documents as follows:

• The phytosanitary certificate must mark "orchard filing number" and "packing factory registration number",which must be consistent with foreign filing information;
• Tropical fruits need to be attached with a "cold treatment certificate",which must comply with the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) and be issued within 72 hours before shipment;
• Palm oil needs to provide an "aflatoxin test report",and the test value must comply with China’s GB2761-2017 standard (≤10μg/kg).

Supervisor Cui of Zhongshen said that many enterprises ignore the validity period of cold treatment certificates,resulting in invalid documents.In response to this problem,Zhongshen will contact foreign suppliers 3 days before cargo loading to check all key information of documents.Last year,when a trading company imported Malaysian palm oil,pre-review found that the supplier’s test report did not mark the CMA certification body.Supervisor Cui immediately coordinated for supplementary materials and avoided cargo return.

2.Port Customs Clearance Stage

For agricultural product customs clearance at Tianjin Port,attention should be paid to "consistency of manifest and customs declaration".If the cargo name and weight do not match,the goods will be subject to controlled inspection.In addition,it is necessary to confirm the "fumigation certificate" in advance for containers of Southeast Asian agricultural products (if the container is empty or has previously loaded wooden packaging).

Zhongshen’s operation process: 24 hours before cargo arrival at the port,the customs clearance team checks the manifest with the shipping company and corrects any differences immediately; complete customs declaration within 1 hour after arrival,and synchronize with Tianjin Customs "Single Window".Last year,an enterprise imported dragon fruit from Vietnam.The manifest marked "leaf-on dragon fruit",but the customs declaration mistakenly wrote "leaf-off dragon fruit".After customs declarer Mr.Peng found the error,he coordinated with the shipping company to correct it within 2 hours,avoiding inspection delay.

3.Commodity Inspection Coordination Stage

The commodity inspection requirements for Southeast Asian agricultural products vary greatly by product category,as detailed below:

Last year,a tire enterprise imported natural rubber from Thailand,and was required by commodity inspection to supplement the REACH test report.Ms.Lu from Zhongshen coordinated with the foreign supplier to provide a compliant report within 3 days,assisted in uploading it to the commodity inspection system,and the goods were released smoothly,avoiding production delay for the enterprise.

Practical Value of Zhongshen’s Agency Service

From practical cases,Zhongshen’s agency service can bring obvious value to enterprises:

• More than 80% of problems are detected in advance during the document pre-review stage,avoiding delay after arrival at the port;
• The average customs clearance time for agency declaration is 40% shorter than that of enterprise self-declaration (from 72 hours to 43 hours);
• Commodity inspection coordination shortens the testing cycle from 5 days to 2.5 days,reducing in-port storage costs.

Mr.Peng of a food trading company said that it used to take 5 days to handle durian customs clearance by himself.After entrusting Zhongshen,customs clearance only took 2 days,storage costs decreased by 60%,and there has been no cargo return problem ever since.

Conclusion

In 2026,the import demand for Southeast Asian agricultural products through Tianjin Port continues to grow,but the compliance requirements for documents and quarantine are becoming increasingly strict.With 20 years of industry experience,Zhongshen provides full-process agency services based on the characteristics of Tianjin Port,helping enterprises avoid risks in advance and improve customs clearance efficiency.For import enterprises,professional agency not only saves time cost,but also avoids major losses caused by compliance problems.