South China's Hainan Province held a press conference on Friday, May 15, in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, marking the first promotional event for the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) outside the island province since it launched island-wide special customs operations (IWSCO) last December. 

At the event, officials from various provincial departments briefed attendees on the achievements of the Hainan FTP's construction since its special customs operations began, highlighting progress, policy systems, the business environment, cultural tourism, port logistics, and investment opportunities, before taking questions from the media. 

Since the island-wide special customs operations commenced on December 18, 2025, the Hainan FTP has yielded substantial dividends, according to Wang Bin, member of the Standing Committee and Director General of the Publicity Department of the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee. 

As of April 30, 2026, the import value of goods under the FTP’s suite of "zero-tariff" policies reached 2.26 billion yuan, up 99.6 percent year on year. The domestic sales value of goods eligible for tariff exemptions under the processing value-added policy, applicable to goods that achieve at least 30% in added value after undergoing processing in Hainan, reached 510 million yuan, with 24.57 million yuan in tariffs exempted. Additionally, 15 business transactions valued at 3.50 million yuan were completed under the List of Prohibited and Restricted Goods and Articles for Import and Export. Six enterprises were granted bonded maintenance qualifications, and three started bonded maintenance businesses under the "both ends abroad" model (importing raw materials and exporting finished products).

In terms of port operations, the average customs clearance time for imported goods at the island's eight “first-line” open ports has been slashed by 28 percent. A total of 70,000 tons of imported cargo from five enterprises were cleared quickly via the simplified release model. Furthermore, declaration items for outward-bound cargo at 10 “second-line” (mainland-facing) ports were simplified by over 60 percent, allowing low-risk goods to be released in seconds. More than 100,000 foreign trade entities across the province have been integrated into a tiered, categorized, credit-based customs clearance management system.

During the same period, Hainan registered 141,200 new market entities, achieving a year-on-year surge of 59.31 percent. Among them, the number of new enterprises grew by 118.52 percent to 114,400, while newly established foreign-funded enterprises climbed 35.47 percent to 1,016.

The province's total overseas trade in goods grew by 49.8 percent year on year to 137.06 billion yuan, as trade relations expanded to over 220 countries and regions. The categories of duty-free goods under the province’s landmark island-departure duty-free shopping policy expanded to 47, and travelers departing for destinations outside the Chinese mainland were included. The first batch of five duty-free shops for daily consumer goods has also opened for business. 

Wang Fengli, Deputy Director-General of the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee’s Office of the Committee for Comprehensive Reform, noted that following the launch of special customs operations, the proportion of "zero-tariff" commodity tax items jumped from 21 percent to 74 percent, covering over 6,600 line items.

Hainan's total foreign trade in goods surpassed the one-trillion-yuan milestone for the first time, while its trade in services registered an average annual growth of 30.2 percent. Fund transfers under the FTP’s EF account system involved 104 countries and regions, with a business volume exceeding 5000 billion yuan. Currently, travelers from 86 countries can enter Hainan visa-free, maintaining the nation's most favorable visa-free policy.

In institutional innovation, Hainan has formulated 181 cases across 22 batches, with 85 recognized nationally and 41 promoted nationwide. Notable innovations include the provincial-level “integration of multiple planning schemes,” automated machine-regulated bidding, a unified network for medical services, the country’s first negative list for cross-border trade in services, the shortest negative list for foreign investment access on the Chinese mainland, and the first international investment “single window” system.

To back these developments, Hainan has constructed a corporate service framework characterized by “responsiveness to needs, non-interference in daily operations, and commitment to promises,” according to Wang Xuehao, Deputy Director General of the Department of Business Environment Development of Hainan Province.

Regarding responsiveness, the province rolled out 36 distinct FTP “one-stop application” items, boosting the efficiency of construction reforms for engineering projects in key industrial parks by over 90 percent. More than 1,400 appointment requests initiated by enterprises through the “Haiyiban” online platform have been fulfilled, resulting in a satisfaction rate above 95 percent.

To minimize interference with enterprise operations, Hainan has pioneered local regulations that promote “unified enforcement inspections” and “inspection QR codes,” thereby achieving the goal of “one visit to inspect multiple items.”

Upholding its promises, the province launched over 200 credit construction application scenarios, advancing innovative reforms such as advanced compensation, credit-based approval, and credit-based customs clearance at "second-line" ports.

The island's cultural and tourism sectors have also thrived. From December 2025 to March 2026, Hainan saw a year-on-year increase of 11 percent in domestic and international tourist arrivals, with inbound arrivals soaring 59.8 percent. Total tourist expenditure grew 13.8 percent year on year. Since special customs operations took effect, 2,328 new enterprises have registered in the tourism, culture, radio, television, and sports industries, alongside 21 newly signed projects, said Chen Tiejun, Director General of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports of Hainan Province.

Logistics hubs have expanded in tandem. Yangpu Port in northwestern Hainan now boasts two 200,000-ton and one 150,000-ton container berths, capable of docking the world's largest 2.4-million-TEU container ships, said Zhang Huawei, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Danzhou Municipal Committee and Deputy Mayor of Danzhou City.

In 2025, Yangpu Port's container throughput exceeded 3.3 million TEUs, up 65 percent year on year. The growth momentum carried into the first quarter of 2026 with a 94.4 percent surge, leading all major ports in China.

To date, Yangpu Port has opened 66 container liner routes, including 36 foreign trade routes covering domestic coastal regions, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the eastern and western coasts of the United States. Goods from western provinces such as Chongqing can now be shipped via Yangpu Port under a single-bill intermodal transport system, reducing total transit time to under five days. Multimodal transport routes like "Chongqing-Qinzhou-Yangpu" have achieved normalized operations. 

Zeng Rong, chief economist of the Hainan International Economic Development Bureau, highlighted four major tracks for Chongqing enterprises looking to invest in Hainan: advanced manufacturing and processing value-added sectors, international trade and global supply chains, tourism consumption and brand operations, and international headquarters combined with cross-border finance. The strategy aims to facilitate a “manufactured in Western China, transited through Hainan, and sold globally” pipeline while reducing international operational costs. 

Tang Weidong, First-level Inspector of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce, detailed several successful cooperation cases between the two regions. Chongqing companies such as XNF Medical Technology and Hualun Medical Instruments Co., Ltd. have settled in Hainan to explore a “R&D in Chongqing + Manufacturing in Hainan + Global Export” model.

Additionally, HNA Aviation established its “Fangda Aviation International Headquarters” in Chongqing, where it will build an engine maintenance base together with local partners. A rail-sea intermodal channel connecting Chongqing and Yangpu has materialized a “rail-sea intermodal + domestic and foreign trade on the same ship” shipping model. Furthermore, the Haikou-Chongqing-Seattle route marked Hainan's first international air route to the United States, and strategic data-sharing agreements have been inked between the big data bureaus of both regions.

The press conference drew an audience of nearly 200 people, including officials from relevant departments in Hainan and Chongqing, representatives from business chambers, key industrial parks, and major enterprises, as well as media.