For pet food container seller Chen Junbin, customs used to be a major bottleneck when shipping from Shenzhen in southern China to his customers in the US.

“In the past, we had to handle all the paperwork and coordinate with multiple logistics suppliers ourselves; a single [customs] inspection could delay our shipment by a week,” said Chen, founder of Shenzhen Lightning Technology.

As one of the first sellers to test Amazon’s Global Warehousing and Distribution (GWD) facility, the US giant’s new model for an “all-in-one” logistics hub, Chen has seen his shipping cycle slashed from an unpredictable two- to four-week period to as short as three days since joining the initiative last June.

By merging storage and customs clearance into one step, the facility allowed the company to deliver goods with “more frequent shipments” and “without repetitive paperwork”, Chen said.

Amazon officially opened the world’s first GWD facility in Shenzhen to more sellers on Wednesday, marking the US e-commerce giant’s efforts to deepen its ties with the Chinese supply chain. The move followed intensified competition from Chinese rivals Temu and Shein and a turbulent year of unpredictable tariff hikes for China’s “Made in China, sold on Amazon” community.