Ningbo Zhoushan Port, the world's largest port by cargo throughput volume. [Photo/cnnb.com.cn]

Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province was ranked third in an assessment of the business climate of China's top 10 maritime container ports, according to local media reports.

The ranking was released at the 2020 China Customs Affairs Development Conference held in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province on Dec 11.

The city has in recent years made significant efforts to shorten customs clearance time, slashing the duration for import and export at Ningbo ports from 166.26 hours and 27.63 hours in 2017 to 33.49 hours and 2.94 hours in September 2020 respectively, official data show.

Meanwhile, customs clearance costs have been continuously reduced in the city and an open and transparent charging system has been implemented.

Local authorities have also been steadily pushing ahead with the pilot program to exempt enterprises from customs inspection fees. More than 200 million yuan in such fees have been exempted to date.