The Chinese government claims its Customs office in the north china port city of Qingdao has pursued at least 23 cases involving counterfeit ball and roller bearings since 2006, reportedly stopping more than 400,000 bearings from leaving the port.

Qingdao Customs website
[ includes port import / export statistics ]
All import and export activity in Shandong province is handled through Qingdao Customs. Shandong is heavily populated with smaller bearing manufacturing companies.

Qingdao Customs is a large 24-hour operation, running 24 separate Customs Houses, 20 functional administrative divisions, and 9 smuggling task forces. There are close to 2,500 people on staff there; 2,100 Customs officers and 375 agents dedicated to catching smugglers and counterfeits, both inbound and outbound.

Attention to bearings specifically was stepped up in 2009, with 17 cases investigated, involving at least 270,000 bearings -- more cases and bearings than the grand total prior to 2009.

Commonly counterfeited brands, according to authorities, were SKF and FAG. However, a large number of well-known Chinese brands were also being counterfeited -- a growing problem for a port where the same brands may be coming through legitimately as exports.

Recently, the World Bearing Association sent a delegation to Qingdao Customs, on World Intellectual Property Day, thanking them for their efforts and awarding, "WBA Best Practice in Protecting IPR".

Qingdao is one of the more advanced customs offices in China, running a paperless system and gradually increasing its crackdown on counterfeit exports. From 2 or 3 cases per year, Qingdao is now pursuing dozens, still with a particular emphasis on bearings.



Qingdao Customs also handles air freight; more than 2,700 counterfeit SKF and NSK bearings were seized recently in the air freight raid pictured above.