China plans to build a national logistics network made up of 212 hubs by 2035.
The government is encouraging developments in new technology and equipment in the logistics industry to establish 30 hubs by 2020, and an additional 150 by 2025. The plans will increase efficiency by “reducing the ratio of total logistic expenses to approximately 12% GDP,” according to the state-owned China Daily.
“Qualified national logistic hubs are encouraged to build fully automatic ports and intelligent warehouses, where unmanned trucks, automatic guided vehicles, smart robots and drones will be used,” said China Daily.
Joint plans released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Transport, announced 127 qualified cities have been earmarked as hub locations, including Shenzhen, Beijing Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Zhenzhou, Foshan, Xi’an, and Fuzhou.
A range of six types of hubs – land port, harbor port, airport, service-oriented port, commerce and trade-oriented port, and land border port – will be built across the locations.
Companies are encouraged to integrate air, high-speed rail, cold-chain, e-commerce and cross-border capabilities to improve logistics and supply chains.
“International cooperation will also be established to connect important global logistic hubs, origin of energy and raw materials, manufacturing bases and trade centres with China's national logistic hubs via China-Europe freight train services, sea routes and airlines,” said China Daily.
According to the World Bank, average logistics costs typically make up 13% of GDP but in the most efficient countries, such as the US, this figure can be around 8%. For the least efficient countries the figure can be as high as 25%.
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