Further expansion of the logistics system is a requirement for China to achieve high-quality development in the new era. The General Office of the State Council issued the 14th Five-Year Plan for the development of modern logistics on Dec 15, calling for the basic construction of a modern logistics system featuring matching supply and demand, internal and external connectivity, safety, efficiency, wisdom and green by 2025.

Logistics innovation and development capacity and enterprise competitiveness have been significantly enhanced. The digital transformation of logistics has achieved remarkable results, and the application scenarios of smart logistics have become more diverse. The logistics science and technology innovation capacity has been enhanced, the mechanism for integrating production, university and research has been further improved, and a number of modern logistics science innovation centers and national engineering research centers have been established. Notable progress has been made in structural reform in railway and civil aviation, and market vitality has been significantly enhanced. A number of key logistics enterprises and well-known service brands with strong international competitiveness have been formed.

The quality and efficiency of logistics services have been significantly improved. The efficiency of cross-logistics links and cross-transport modes has been greatly improved, and the ratio of total logistics costs to GDP has been reduced by about 2 percentage points compared with 2020. Notable progress was made in key areas such as multimodal transport, high-speed rail express, inland river transport, bulk commodity storage facilities, rural logistics, cold chain logistics, emergency logistics, aviation logistics, and international delivery and delivery logistics. Customs clearance facilitation has been further improved, and urban and rural logistics services have become significantly more equal.

An operating system of "channel + hub + network" has taken shape. It connects with the main framework of the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network, completes the layout and construction of about 120 national logistics hubs and about 100 national backbone cold chain logistics bases, and basically forms a backbone logistics infrastructure network with national logistics hubs as the core. The integrated operation of trunk, branch and warehouse distribution of logistics is more smooth, the diversified international logistics channels connecting different modes of transport are gradually improved, and the domestic and international logistics service network of Changlink is more sound. Progress has been made in the development of hub economy, and about 20 national logistics hub economic demonstration zones have been built.

Safe and green development has been significantly improved. We will improve the ability of logistics to ensure economic and social operations in emergencies such as major epidemics and natural disasters. The monitoring capacity of the whole process of cold chain logistics has been greatly enhanced, and the cold chain circulation rate of fresh products has been significantly improved. The cargo transport structure has been further improved, with the proportion of railway freight increased by 0.5 percentage points compared with 2020, and the average annual growth rate of container-water combined iron and steel transport at over 15 percent. The proportion of container-water combined iron and steel transport at railway and inland waterways has increased significantly. A reverse logistics system for key categories has been preliminarily established, and the intensive utilization of resources has been significantly improved. Clean freight vehicles are widely used, green packaging has made notable progress, and energy conservation and emission reduction in logistics have been significantly improved.

Modern logistics development system environment is more perfect. The system of logistics standards and specifications has been further improved, and standardized, containerized and unitized logistics loaders and basic packaging modules have been widely used. The statistical system and credit system of social logistics have been improved, the business environment has been continuously improved, and the industry's collaborative governance system and governance capacity have been significantly improved.

In 2035, the modern logistics system will be improved, world-class internationally competitive logistics companies will grow stronger, and the logistics service network with global reach will become more robust. This will provide stronger support and guidance for coordinated regional development and high-quality development of the real economy, and provide a solid guarantee for basically realizing socialist modernization. Editor/Xu Shengpeng