One out of every three palletizers sold globally comes from Dongguan. Since 2026, Dongguan’s industrial robot exports have exceeded 160 million yuan, covering more than 60 countries around the world.
Huangpu Customs has launched three exclusive policies for the export of Dongguan industrial robots, namely “water-to-water intermodal transport” to simplify customs clearance, “bonded maintenance” to open a global after-sales closed loop, and “AEO high-credit enterprises” to give priority to release.
These three policies directly reduce the cost and waiting time of enterprises from the three dimensions of logistics, after-sales, and customs clearance.
In terms of “water-to-water intermodal transport”, under the traditional export model, goods departing from Dongguan Port need to be declared, inspected and cleared again at the transit port, which takes at least 30% more time.
The core of the “water-to-water intermodal transport” model promoted by Huangpu Customs is “one-time fix”.
Enterprises only need to submit a multimodal transport application form once at the place of departure, and all links such as the arrival, reloading, and arrival of the goods will be automatically transferred, and the declaration data will be automatically reviewed and released 24 hours a day.
The effect of this model is remarkable. Domestic transportation and logistics costs are reduced by 10% – 15%. Customs clearance time of similar models (such as Shantou Port) is reduced by 30%. Dongguan Port’s first “domestic and domestic trade on the same ship” route (Dongguan Port-Hainan Yangpu Port, operated by COSCO Shipping) is expected to have an annual cargo volume exceeding 1,500 TEUs.
In the first five months of this year, Shatin Customs supervised 52,000 TEUs of import and export containers, a year-on-year increase of 19.4%.
This model turns “run multiple times” into “run once”, allowing Dongguan Industrial Robot to directly save a profit on shipping costs.
The “bonded maintenance” policy also plays an important role.
Robots need repairs after being used overseas for a long time. In the past, if a robot worth 1 million yuan was shipped back to the original factory for repairs, the customs duty and value-added tax alone would be temporarily exempted by 230,000 yuan, and the round trip would take at least several months.
The bonded maintenance business of Dongguan Comprehensive Bonded Zone has opened up a closed loop of “overseas return → bonded maintenance → reproduction in the zone → re-export”.
Huangpu Customs also took the lead in implementing a new policy for the circulation of repaired finished products in the area. Repaired parts do not need to leave the area before coming in, but directly enter the production line in the comprehensive bonded area. The overall cost is reduced by 30% and the logistics timeliness is shortened by 50%.
Cross-industry cases show that the vivo mobile phone repair business in the Humen Port Comprehensive Bonded Zone will complete the repair of more than 9,400 units in 2025, reducing after-sales costs by more than 30%, and reducing global service response from 21 days to 7 days; Guangzhou Hongyu Digital Technology uses this model to save more than 2 million yuan in customs declaration logistics fees every year; the bonded maintenance cycle of the shield boring machine of China Railway Construction Heavy Industry has been reduced from 4 months to 45 days, and the cost has been reduced by 40%.
For robot companies in Dongguan, this model means that they can not only “sell equipment” but also make money by “repairing equipment”, which directly increases customer stickiness.
In terms of the “AEO High Credit Enterprise” policy, Huangpu Customs implements differentiated conveniences for Advanced Certification Enterprises (AEO), including low inspection rates, “release first and then inspect” for some products; set up a green channel, make appointments for inspection “on-the-go inspection”; guarantee is waived for distribution and centralized declaration, and enterprises ship goods in batches and declare together, and no longer need to pay a deposit each time.
Cross-industry data shows that Dongguan Lianyida Supply Chain (AEO company) has saved nearly 10 million yuan in guarantee costs, reduced logistics costs by about 30%, shortened on-site upgrade of chip software by 5 days, and reduced costs by 70%; the lithium battery industry’s “Lithium Battery Export One Thing” platform has shortened the packaging inspection time from 1 week to 1 hour, and increased efficiency by 98%.
Although there is no special data for robots, the inclusive nature of the AEO policy determines that as long as the Dongguan robot leader obtains AEO certification, customs clearance efficiency will increase by at least 30% and customs declaration costs will be saved by 20%.
Enterprises can also use the three policies in combination.
Water-to-water transfer solves the problem of “how to transport it out”, bonded maintenance solves the problem of “how to repair if it is broken”, and AEO convenience solves the problem of “quick customs clearance”. The three policies form a combined punch.
If a Dongguan robot company wants to do global business, the optimal path is: become an AEO company → use water-to-water transshipment to reduce shipping costs → rely on the comprehensive bonded area to build a global maintenance center.
This style of play has been verified by companies such as vivo, Hongyu Digital, and Lianyida.
