Dongjiang free trade zone expands leasing portfolio

Dongjiang Free Trade Port Zone of Tianjin, the world's second-largest airplane leasing market following Ireland, completed its first automobile exports via financial leasing late May.

'The move is part of the zone's efforts to enrich its business portfolio in the leasing sector, which has seen a number of pioneering projects in China,' the free trade zone said in a news release.

Up to 80 percent of the country's airplanes, vessels and offshore engineering facilities' leasing businesses were inked in Dongjiang.

The first batch of 35 tractors manufactured by Sinotruk Qingdao Heavy Industries Co Ltd was exported to Mongolia via financial leasing by Jiahe International Financial Leasing (Tianjin) Co Ltd, which is a freight forwarding company headquartered in Dongjiang.

In the online automobile export license registration system under the Ministry of Commerce, there was no option for 'international leasing' when the company began to register the business this January.

'There was no way for the operator to 'click' on the computer,' when the company tried to register the business in a bid to get the nod from the ministry, said a business applicant who did not want to be named.

'After coordination among multiple levels of authorities, the new option was added in the system, and the ministry issued the permit to the company,' he said.

The coordinated efforts among authorities were based on the State Council's instruction to boost the development of Tianjin Free Trade Zone area, which includes the proposal to accelerate Dongjiang's cross-border financial leasing sector, building it into a model innovation zone for business in the country, he said.

Statistics show that from 2009 to date, the zone has innovated 40 methods of leasing and has taken the lead in the country in financial leasing.

According to Shen Lei, director of the administrative committee of the zone, Dongjiang has seen leasing business prosper since 2009. The aircraft and heavy industry leasing sector in the zone is expected to see total assets top 1 trillion yuan ($144.9 billion) in 2019.

As of March, the zone had seen 3,249 leasing companies registered there with a combined registered capital of up to 544.7 billion yuan. It had leased 1,463 airplanes, 110 engines, 158 vessels and 15 oil drilling platforms.

Liu Enzhuan, executive director of the research institute of the Tianjin Free Trade Pilot Zone, said Dongjiang, located in the zone, has accumulated a number of innovation experiences that could be learned by other free trade zones.

'Dongjiang's innovative leasing businesses could significantly slash the costs for domestic companies and help break foreign monopoly,' Liu said.

天津東疆保稅港區(qū)繼愛爾蘭之后，成為全球第二大飛機(jī)租賃聚集地。不僅如此，今年5月底，東疆完成了全國首批以融資租賃形式出口汽車的業(yè)務(wù)。

東疆保稅港區(qū)致力于推進(jìn)融資租賃業(yè)的創(chuàng)新發(fā)展，完成了多項(xiàng)全國首創(chuàng)的創(chuàng)新業(yè)務(wù)。中國80％的飛機(jī)、國際船舶和海工平臺的跨境租賃業(yè)務(wù)都在東疆進(jìn)行。

此次嘉和國際融資租賃（天津）有限公司通過融資租賃方式出口蒙古的第一批35輛牽引車，由中國重汽青島重工有限公司生產(chǎn)。

由于是創(chuàng)新業(yè)務(wù)，今年一月份企業(yè)在注冊業(yè)務(wù)時，商務(wù)部汽車出口許可證申請系統(tǒng)中貿(mào)易方式一欄還沒有“國際租賃”選項(xiàng)。

業(yè)務(wù)申請人說：“公司在注冊業(yè)務(wù)獲批許可的時候，操作者沒辦法在電腦上點(diǎn)擊下一步。在經(jīng)過多個部門進(jìn)行協(xié)調(diào)后，系統(tǒng)中增加了這個新選項(xiàng)，并且向我們發(fā)了許可證?！?/p>

國務(wù)院《中國（天津）自由貿(mào)易試驗(yàn)區(qū)總體方案》明確要求加快建設(shè)國家租賃創(chuàng)新示范區(qū)，率先推進(jìn)租賃業(yè)政策制度創(chuàng)新，形成與國際接軌的租賃業(yè)發(fā)展環(huán)境。統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)顯示，從2009年至今，東疆已經(jīng)創(chuàng)新了40種租賃方式，并在全國融資租賃業(yè)處于領(lǐng)先地位。