HOHHOT -- With greater opening-up, both inbound and outbound TIR transports are now available in the Manzhouli Port, northern China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

On Nov 7, a truck bearing the TIR sign entered China through the Manzhouli Port, marking the first inbound TIR truck to China's largest land port.

It started in Germany's Berchtesgaden and traveled through Poland, Belarus and Russia before arriving in China.

TIR stands for Transports Internationaux Routiers or International Road Transports. With 76 countries using the procedure, it is an international customs transit system to help save time and money for transport operators and customs authorities when moving goods across borders.

China joined the UN TIR Convention in July 2016 to simplify and streamline the administrative formalities of international road transport.

Last June, China's first outbound TIR truck carrying more than 43 tonnes of apples from the eastern Chinese city of Dalian passed through Manzhouli and reached the Russian city of Novosibirsk.

Currently, China has 10 TIR pilot ports, including Manzhouli and Horgos, a major land pass in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.