Hainan Free Trade Port a global launchpad

It was a moment that captured the promise of a new era. On the eve of the May Day holiday, a container ship from Italy docked at Yangpu Port in Danzhou, Hainan province, carrying a set of zero-tariff production equipment worth about 16 million yuan ($2.36 million).

Within hours, the machinery — a state-of-the-art tablet packaging line — cleared customs and was rushed to the production floor of Hainan Zambon Pharmaceutical in Haikou National High-Tech Zone. By early June, installation and training were complete. Foreign engineers had barely left when local staff began scrubbing the workshop and familiarizing themselves with the new line, racing toward full operation.

This is not an isolated case. It is the new normal in Hainan, where island-wide special customs operations were launched on Dec 18. Six months into the special customs zone, the numbers tell a striking story of acceleration.

From launch through the end of April, zero-tariff imports into Hainan had hit 2.26 billion yuan, according to the Hainan provincial government. Value-added goods entering China's mainland market under the duty-exemption policy reached 510 million yuan, saving enterprises 24.57 million yuan in tariffs. Passenger traffic through Hainan's ports rose 33.2 percent year-on-year, and the number of new foreign-invested enterprises jumped 35.5 percent.

But behind the aggregate figures are concrete, human-scale transformations — in a pharmaceutical plant, a chip factory, a coffee farm, a seaside village and a rainforest county. Together, they reveal how Hainan is not just opening-up, but redefining what "special customs operations" can mean for businesses big and small.

At Hainan Zambon, the new Italian packaging line is a game changer. "It is more than twice as efficient as the old one," said Xian Haiyan, head of the Hainan Zambon factory. "Once operational, annual tablet output will increase by 15 to 17 million boxes with two shifts. It takes up less floor space, and it is highly automated."

Crucially, the equipment uses the same design as other Zambon factories, making it easier to share best practices across the group's global quality system.

The tariff savings — about 1.3 million yuan — were not the only attraction. "We evaluated multiple domestic and foreign designs," Xian explained. "The Italian solution was the best fit. With Hainan's zero-tariff policy, the timing was perfect."

Nearby in Hainan Zambon's automated warehouse, stacks of "processed on the island, sold on China's mainland" finished products stand seven meters high. "Every working day, we ship to cities across China — Jinan, Jilin, Qingdao, Changzhou, Shenyang," said public affairs supervisor Wang Zhu, scrolling through that day's orders. "We apply for customs clearance in the morning in a special window. By afternoon, the logistics trucks arrive. It is seamless."

From January to May of this year, Hainan Zambon sold products to the mainland totaling 62.28 million yuan in value and saving 180,200 yuan in tariffs. The company's confidence is so strong that Zambon Chairwoman Elena Zambon visited Haikou in April.

"She was deeply impressed by the dialogue with local officials and by what she saw at our factory," Xian said. "Now we are actively studying the feasibility of moving part of our Southeast Asia-bound production to Hainan."