URUMQI, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Customs at Alashankou Port in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has improved the clearance efficiency for the China-Europe freight trains, according to the customs.

The clearance times for the inbound and outbound cargos were 18.5 hours and 0.77 hours, respectively, at the customs in May, 38.8 percent and 47.6 percent lower than the end of 2018, respectively.

"We have set up special service windows for the freight trains to make sure the clearance can operate 24/7," said Wang Chuanjie, head of the customs.

The customs handled 851 China-Europe freight trains with 5.17 billion U.S. dollars worth of cargo from January to May, up 69.6 percent year on year.

Nearly 70 percent of China-Europe freight trains passed through the port by the end of 2018.