A truck carrying goods made in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang province, departed for Almaty, Kazakhstan, on May 12 after completing customs procedures at Taizhou Customs, marking the city's first export shipment under the Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) system.

The cargo vehicle will travel through the Horgos border port before entering Kazakhstan. With the launch of the service, Taizhou has become another city in Zhejiang to launch TIR transport services, following Wenzhou, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Yiwu in Jinhua.

TIR is an international cross-border road transport system established under the United Nations TIR Convention. Under this system, goods are inspected and sealed by customs at the departure point, allowing vehicles to pass through multiple countries without repeated cargo inspections or unloading. Compared with sea and rail transport, TIR offers shorter delivery times and lower logistics costs through direct door-to-door transportation.

To support the first shipment, Taizhou Customs provided advance policy guidance and developed a dedicated customs clearance plan for the company. Customs officials also implemented rapid inspection and release procedures for TIR vehicles to improve clearance efficiency.