Experts say: Insights into the Development of Smart Logistics from the “14th Five-Year Plan for Digital Economy Development” — Official Website

On January 18, the State Council issued the “14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of a Modern Comprehensive Transportation System.” The plan sets out the following key objectives: by 2025, integrated and coordinated development of the comprehensive transportation system will be largely achieved; substantial progress will be made in smart and green transportation; overall capacity, service quality, operational efficiency, and systemic benefits will see marked improvements; and transportation development will advance toward world-class standards. Looking ahead to 2035, a modern, high-quality national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network—characterized by convenience and smoothness, cost-effectiveness, safety and reliability, green and intensive practices, and intelligent sophistication—will be essentially completed. The “123 Travel and Transportation Circle” nationwide—encompassing one-hour commutes within metropolitan areas, two-hour connectivity among city clusters, and three-hour coverage of major cities across the country—and the “123 Express Logistics Circle” globally—providing one-day delivery within China, two-day delivery to neighboring countries, and three-day delivery to major cities worldwide—have been essentially established, marking the basic completion of building a transportation powerhouse.

The “Plan” has formulated During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the goal for digital economy development is to raise the share of value added by core digital industries in GDP to 10% by 2025, while also identifying eight key tasks and eleven specialized projects. China’s digital economy has entered a new stage of synergistic development characterized by the “four transformations”: data valorization, industrial digitalization, digitalization of industries, and digital governance.

In the “Plan” The document mentions logistics 12 times and supply chains 10 times, setting forth the goal of vigorously developing smart logistics and charting a clear course for the digital transformation of the modern logistics sector. As a strategic and foundational industry, logistics is poised to play a pioneering role in unlocking the pivotal value of data, fostering integrated development across multiple sectors, and advancing both the digitalization of industries and the industrial application of digital technologies.

01

The Plan outlines the key tasks for developing smart logistics.

Smart logistics takes multi-source data as a key enabler, applying next-generation information technologies to the logistics sector to achieve intelligent logistics operations, platform‑based management, transparent governance, and data‑driven decision‑making—thereby enhancing resource utilization and driving innovation in productivity. With notable advantages such as strong connectivity, broad integration, low economic costs, high operational efficiency, and significant environmental benefits, smart logistics represents the future direction of modern logistics.

The “Plan” is in… The “Digital Transformation and Upgrading Project for Key Industries” calls for the vigorous development of smart logistics. Accelerate the digital transformation and upgrading of traditional logistics infrastructure, and foster integrated development between modern logistics and sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing. Expedite the construction of cross-industry, cross-regional logistics information service platforms to enable real-time sharing of demand, inventory, and logistics data, and explore the wider adoption of electronic bills of lading. Develop intelligent warehousing systems to enhance the automation and intelligence of logistics storage operations. Digitalization lies at the heart of smart logistics and is a cornerstone of new infrastructure; in the future, logistics will be inseparable from data.

02

The Plan has opened up new avenues for the development of smart logistics.

At present, China’s smart logistics sector still faces numerous bottlenecks and challenges in areas such as regulatory standards, data sharing, industry oversight, and policy support. This calls for us to reassess smart logistics from the perspective of digital transformation and upgrading across the industry. Accelerate smart logistics through new positioning, new inputs, new technologies, new models, and new platforms. To this, the Plan provides an answer. Specifically, taking data as a key factor and digital technologies as the means, we will advance the integration of logistics with industries such as manufacturing and agriculture, strengthen the development of digital infrastructure in the logistics sector, improve the governance framework for the digital economy, and coordinate efforts to digitize the logistics industry while fostering the growth of the digital economy. This will support the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, nurture new forms and models of logistics, and provide a model and valuable experience for bolstering, optimizing, and expanding China’s digital economy.

·1, A New Digital Perspective and Positioning   

The logistics industry connects production on one end and consumption on the other, serving as a bridge between supply and demand. It collects data, generates data, and leverages data in its operations. Logistics serves as the creator, enabler, and implementer of data value, while also providing the settings and platforms for digital technological innovation, business model evolution, and new‑mode development. Its position and role in the digital economy are of paramount importance.

At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is deepening, and digital transformation has become an inevitable trend. Amid this sweeping wave of digitalization, the logistics industry shoulders a threefold mission. First, it must undergo its own digital transformation and upgrading by placing information at the forefront of its nine core functions—such as transportation—and treating data as a new key factor of production. This entails reconfiguring production relations, building integrated online‑offline digital twins, and facilitating the swift flow of goods. Second, leveraging digital supply chains to drive the transformation and upgrading of related industries. By capitalizing on logistics’ role as a connective hub, integrating information and communication technologies, and transcending organizational and sectoral boundaries, It serves as a key engine for advancing the integration of industry and urban development, network convergence, and industrial synergy, thereby helping to build a modernized economic system. Third, the logistics sector is an essential component of the nation’s digital infrastructure network and a critical pillar of the modern market system of the digital economy. Building a “logistics-plus” digital powerhouse will be a major strategic priority and implementation task for China’s economic and industrial development, ultimately fostering new competitive advantages at the national level.

·2. New digital infrastructure

The Plan states that the digital transformation of infrastructure in sectors such as energy, transportation, and logistics should be accelerated. The core of digital transformation lies in visualization, quantification, and optimization, driving the interconnection of all things and building… “New infrastructure” accelerates the synergy among digital flows and the flows of goods, people, commerce, capital, and information. It enhances industrial value chains by focusing on building national, sectoral, and regional public logistics data service platforms, and promotes data interoperability and sharing in key areas such as rail, road, waterway, and air transport.

Accelerate the development of an intelligent, integrated logistics digital information infrastructure that is high-speed and ubiquitous, integrates space and ground networks, seamlessly fuses cloud and network technologies, is smart and agile, green and low-carbon, and secure and controllable, thereby ensuring smooth connectivity across the national economy. The “major artery” of informationization. We will promote the commercial deployment and large-scale application of 5G, enhance IoT coverage, accelerate the integration of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System into vehicles and vessels, and ensure end-to-end visibility and traceability.

Accelerate the development of a nationwide, integrated logistics big-data center system that coordinates computing power, algorithms, data, and application resources; prioritize breakthroughs in key software, data models, and algorithms to enhance innovation and supply capabilities in critical software technologies. Build data-center clusters and optimize the spatial layout of data-center construction. Build a new type of intelligent infrastructure that integrates intelligent computing power, general-purpose algorithms, and development platforms. , targeting key emerging sectors such as smart logistics, green logistics, multimodal transport, autonomous driving, and digital supply chains, it delivers comprehensive AI‑driven services to elevate the modernization of industrial and supply chains.

3. The New Data Factor System

When we talk about innovation, it means focusing on logistics services… Beyond the three core elements of “people, products, and places,” it is essential to identify new factors and emerging production conditions, and to forge novel combinations. Data not only constitutes a new factor of production but also reshapes production relations. In the course of digitalization, we must be driven by market orientation and productization, leveraging internet‑based systems to allocate and optimize resources, employing IoT platforms to deliver services and enable end-to-end transparent management, and harnessing data‑driven approaches to establish feedback loops that reconfigure quality‑control frameworks.

First, by leveraging intelligent equipment and sensing systems, we achieve the collection and integration of multi-source data. Accelerate efforts to resolve Long-standing issues such as “information silos” and “information chimneys” have severely constrained the development of China’s modern logistics sector. To address these challenges, it is essential to dismantle technological and industry-specific barriers, achieve seamless interconnectivity and interoperability, establish a fully integrated data chain, and enhance the level of public data openness.

Second, cultivate investors, operators, and service providers in the logistics data sector to enhance data utilization efficiency. By performing data annotation, cleansing, de-identification, declassification, aggregation, and analysis, mathematical models are constructed to describe, diagnose, predict, and support decision-making in logistics scenarios. This enables bidirectional mapping between the physical and digital spaces, with data‑driven models facilitating intelligent decision‑making.

Ultimately, we must return to the fundamentals: driving cost reduction and efficiency gains across the industry while fostering innovation in business models. By leveraging data openness, licensed development, and authorized applications, we will encourage greater participation from the broader community in value‑added data exploitation and utilization, enabling end‑to‑end functional integration and seamless interaction. This will facilitate lean management and intelligent automation across operational processes, establish a digital twin system for modern logistics, and serve as a model for the digital transformation of smart logistics.

4. New Pathways for the Digital Transformation of Logistics Enterprises

Digital transformation is a process that further transcends industry boundaries and reconfigures them.

The transformation of logistics enterprises is a multifaceted, decompositional process. Such transformation should entail a deep‑seated, comprehensive restructuring. Logistics firms must leverage their comparative advantages to define their positioning within the supply chain, adopt strategic, higher‑order thinking, and forge collaborative partnerships with enterprises across different sectors. Cultivating modern logistics companies that are globally competitive will inevitably require a diversified mix of firms—spanning different business models, attributes, and geographic regions.

Overall, logistics enterprises have three innovative development pathways for transformation, and the structure of this transformation is divided into… Y-shaped, H-shaped, L-shaped.

A Y‑shaped organizational structure enables new data‑driven businesses to share the same service network and data center as existing logistics operations. The new initiatives represent an Internet‑plus‑based digital transformation of legacy processes, rearchitecting business systems and systematically advancing the digitalization of logistics firms across areas such as solution design, customer service, operational management, and marketing. This approach gives rise to data‑centric products, services, supply chains, and distribution channels, while optimizing management frameworks and service models, thereby enhancing the quality and efficiency of the service sector and unlocking new value from existing resources. A prime example of this type of transformation is Pan‑Asia E‑commerce.

An H‑shaped structure leverages existing customer assets to expand investments into the digital domain, building on current operations. By pursuing R&D or strategic acquisitions, companies can enter the logistics‑technology sector, restructure their business models, and position themselves as providers of digital logistics solutions. This enables them to offer customers cutting‑edge logistics‑tech services and data‑driven offerings, thereby enhancing customer experience and fostering greater loyalty. A prime example of this type of transformation is Sinotrans Zhiyun.

With an L‑shaped organizational structure, it has undertaken disruptive transformation of its existing operations, redefined customer needs, and fully transitioned its traditional logistics business into a platform‑based model. By opening up to the broader ecosystem, it has digitally connected upstream and downstream players in the supply chain, enriching stakeholder experiences and driving value creation. It has also established industry standards and built an integrated digital innovation hub for the logistics sector, fostering positive synergy and facilitating the industry’s transformation and upgrading. Smart through technology, wise through ecosystem. Leveraging “Internet Plus,” Sinotrans has made a three‑step leap—from a logistics service provider to a logistics integrator and now to a logistics platform operator—while remaining committed to building a world‑class smart logistics platform. It strives to enhance logistics efficiency and value, delivering superior customer experiences while co‑creating an interconnected, shared smart logistics ecosystem with all stakeholders.

5. New Business Models in the Digitalization of Logistics

Promote the deep integration of new technologies such as big data, the Internet, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and supercomputing with the logistics industry. Accelerate the development of a group of… “Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative” enterprises and single-champion enterprises. We will refine the supply-chain systems of key industries and accelerate the iteration of products and services.

Establish a comprehensive big‑data center system for transportation and build a number of innovation platforms with international influence. Promote the healthy development of the platform economy, guiding and supporting platform enterprises in strengthening the integration and sharing of resources such as data, products, and content. Develop a digital‑technology‑driven smart economy, accelerate the optimization of intelligent product and service operations, and foster new growth drivers in areas like unmanned delivery, smart equipment, and logistics software.

Leverage the leading and catalytic role of digital‑economy flagship enterprises, strengthen resource sharing and data openness, and promote integrated online‑offline innovation collaboration, capacity sharing, and supply‑chain connectivity. By using data flows to drive the movement of goods, people, technology, and capital, we will foster a digital ecosystem that seamlessly integrates upstream and downstream segments of industrial chains and spans across industries, thereby building internationally competitive clusters in the digital and logistics sectors.

6. A New Platform for the Digital Economy of Logistics

The term “platform” appears in the Plan. In 35 instances, it has been proposed to accelerate platformization and promote the sound development of the platform economy. This includes fostering well‑regulated data trading platforms and market entities, supporting large enterprises with the necessary capabilities to build integrated digital platforms, comprehensively consolidating internal information systems, strengthening end-to-end data connectivity, speeding up business collaboration across the entire value chain, and cultivating data‑driven intelligent decision‑making capabilities to enhance overall operational efficiency and improve coordination between upstream and downstream players in the industrial chain.

Platform enterprises serve as the organizers and coordinators of the digital economy. Logistics platforms constitute logistics industry clusters, embody advanced business models, and provide a new tool for industry regulation. Platforms act as a bridge between the real and virtual economies, integrating commercial services with public services.

The process of platformizing the logistics industry is one of strategic planning, clarifying principles, refining methods, and steadfast implementation—rooted in the industrial chain, focusing on value‑chain‑driving strengths, leveraging modern supply chains to enhance multi‑party collaboration and stickiness, and aligning with prevailing trends of the times, thereby… Using the “platform + channel + hub + network” as its framework, it enables the flexible aggregation and disaggregation of resources, builds consensus, optimizes existing assets, attracts new investments, and constructs a platform‑based systemic architecture. Through innovative business models, it fosters a win‑win, high‑efficiency ecosystem.

Actively explore joint‑operation models that integrate logistics platforms with logistics hubs and logistics parks, enrich the supply of services in areas such as technology, data, digital platforms, and supply chains, enhance the level of resource sharing across online and offline channels, and guide various production factors to accelerate their concentration within these parks. Furthermore, explore ways to develop solutions that transcend physical boundaries. “Virtual” industrial parks and industrial clusters accelerate the virtual aggregation of industrial resources, platform-based operations, and networked collaboration, thereby fostering a new digital ecosystem that seamlessly integrates the physical and the virtual.

Multiple governance actors—comprising platform enterprises, government agencies, and other stakeholders—define specific governance agendas, adhere to unified governance principles, and, through a division of labor and collaborative efforts, jointly establish and uphold the operational order of the digital society. Realize “Responsibility is Value, Governance is Management” ”。

Data empowers the logistics chain, making every link and the entire logistics ecosystem smarter. Intelligence in logistics represents both creativity and execution, driving value innovation and ecological transformation. With the implementation of the Plan, a wave of digitalization is surging forward! Smart logistics will undoubtedly become an indispensable vanguard in building a strong logistics nation and a digitally advanced country.