A new TIR assembly center, certified by the International Road Transport Union (IRU), began operation on Wednesday in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The opening of this new assembly center, following the launch of the first in the autonomous region in May, marks significant progress in cross-border logistics, further integrating railway and international road transport.

TIR, an abbreviation for Transports Internationaux Routiers or International Road Transports, is an international customs transit system to help save time and cost for transport operators and customs authorities when moving goods across borders.

"TIR assembly center will offer more diversified and flexible transport solutions for enterprises and improve the capacity of cross-border logistics," said Si Junjiang, president of Xinjiang International Land Port (Group) Co., Ltd.

"We will continuously optimize the TIR customs clearance procedure and offer services including customs clearance reservation and business consultation to attract more foreign trade enterprises and facilitate cross-border trade," said Lyu Xuenong, deputy head of Wuchang Customs.

In May, Xinjiang's Kashgar became home to China's first TIR assembly center certified by the IRU.

In the first half of this year, Xinjiang saw its foreign trade volume surpass the 200 billion yuan (about 28 billion U.S. dollars) mark two months earlier than last year, achieving a year-on-year growth of 48.4 percent.