“I never imagined we could complete the mortgage registration in just one day—these funds are a true lifesaver for us!” On the afternoon of November 17, Mr. Liu, the head of a shipping company, could hardly contain his excitement as he received the ship mortgage registration certificate from the staff at the Dongguan Maritime Safety Administration’s Government Service Center. The “lifesaver” he referred to was the emergency working capital loan his company successfully secured from a bank by mortgaging its vessel. The swift approval of this loan was largely attributed to the “green channel” fast-track approval service established by the Dongguan Maritime Safety Administration specifically for ship mortgage financing.
Financing obstacles: difficulties in liquidating ships as “movable property”
As the most critical asset for shipping companies, vessels often face difficulties in being liquidated as “movable assets” within traditional financing systems due to their high value and strong liquidity. Lengthy approval cycles and cumbersome procedures frequently deter companies in urgent need of capital, causing them to miss out on valuable market opportunities.
“In the shipping market, opportunities are fleeting. In the past, I’d heard that mortgage registration could take several days, which made me anxious—worried that by the time the loan was approved, the business opportunity would already be gone,” Mr. Liu admitted. It was during this financing process that he personally experienced the efficient and convenient service philosophy upheld by the Dongguan Maritime Safety Administration.
Green channel: pioneering a new “one-day completion” standard
To precisely address the pain points of “difficult and slow financing” faced by enterprises in its jurisdiction, the Dongguan Maritime Safety Administration has deepened reforms in streamlining administration, delegating power, and improving government services, identifying ship mortgage registration as a key project for optimizing the business environment. The Administration’s Government Service Center has specifically established a “Financing Service Green Channel”, implementing a closed-loop mechanism of “early intervention, dedicated guidance, parallel processing, and time-bound completion”, committing to “approval and completion within one day” for applications with complete documentation.
“We have broken away from the traditional ‘sequential’ approval model,” explained the head of the Dongguan Maritime Safety Administration Government Service Center. “Under the ‘green channel,’ we implement ‘pre-approval with conditional acceptance’ and ‘parallel advancement.’ While enterprises are still preparing their materials, our dedicated specialists engage early to provide online pre-review guidance. Once the application is formally submitted, the steps of acceptance, review, verification, and certificate issuance are seamlessly connected, with dedicated personnel overseeing the entire process to ensure the approval procedure operates at peak efficiency.”
Service prepositioning: from “businesses running” to “data running”
The increase in speed is underpinned by a shift in service philosophy and a restructuring of processes. The Dongguan Maritime Safety Administration has proactively moved its service window forward by establishing a tripartite communication mechanism involving “maritime authorities, banks, and enterprises,” providing advance notification of the required materials and standards for mortgage registration. Simultaneously, it has vigorously promoted “online processing” and “paperless operations,” allowing data to do the running so that businesses can do less legwork, thereby saving enterprises significant time and labor costs.
“After we submitted the application, we received the notification to collect the certificate that very afternoon. The efficiency far exceeded our expectations,” Mr. Liu remarked appreciatively. “These funds gave us the confidence to secure new orders and seize the window of opportunity during the market recovery. The maritime authorities have truly done a substantial service for our business!”
Empowering development: injecting “maritime momentum” into the regional economy
The “one-day completion” of ship mortgage registration is a microcosm of the Dongguan Maritime Safety Administration’s efforts to optimize the business environment and enhance the efficiency of government services. This initiative has significantly revitalized enterprises’ ship assets, effectively bridging the conversion channel from “assets” to “capital,” providing shipping companies with a competitive edge in the market and injecting robust “maritime momentum.”
The head of the Dongguan Maritime Safety Administration Government Service Center stated, “Moving forward, we will continue to focus on the concerns of market entities, steadily expand the scope of the ‘green channel’ services, and replicate the successful experience of the ‘problem-solving’ window to more areas. With faster approval speeds and higher service quality, we aim to empower the high-quality development of the port and shipping economy in our jurisdiction, enabling more enterprises to operate with confidence and ride the waves of success in Dongguan!” It is reported that since the beginning of this year, the Dongguan Maritime Safety Administration has efficiently processed 36 ship mortgage registration cases, with secured creditor’s rights amounting to 520 million yuan, significantly facilitating financing for shipping enterprises.
