Focus Interview: Multimodal Transport Clears Bottlenecks—Unveiling China’s Logistics “Cost‑Cutting Secret”

Owning an ultra-large market with tremendous growth potential is a major advantage for China’s development and a solid foundation for navigating changing circumstances.

Logistics is the backbone of the real economy. “Channels of energy” connect production and consumption, bearing on people’s livelihoods and development. In recent years, China has introduced a series of pragmatic and effective reform measures aimed at reducing overall logistics costs across society. “Accelerating the development of a unified and open transportation market and launching special initiatives to cut society-wide logistics expenses” has also been designated as one of this year’s ten key priorities. So, with regard to further lowering logistics costs nationwide, how are localities addressing bottlenecks and ensuring that the construction of a unified national market progresses in a substantive and robust manner?

In the early hours of the morning, in Langfang, Hebei, a site covering… 3.7 The 10,000-square-meter logistics transshipment hub is experiencing its busiest hour of the day. Inside the sorting center, the upper level is used for warehousing, while the lower level serves as a transit area, handling approximately… per hour. 5 Tens of thousands of parcels, after being precisely sorted by an automated system, are transported to the loading area and then delivered nationwide by large trucks. 40 Multiple regions.

2024 In [year], China’s express delivery volume exceeded [value]. 1700 hundred million pieces; this year is expected to exceed 1900 Hundreds of millions of items—behind the smooth flow of goods lies an ultimate test of efficiency and cost.

Logistics costs permeate every stage—production, distribution, and consumption—and are a key determinant of economic efficiency. As a major manufacturing country, the total logistics volume of China’s manufacturing sector accounts for nearly… 90% , at the same time, our country is also a nation that possesses 14 A super-large market of hundreds of millions of people. By continuously working to effectively reduce logistics costs across the entire society and cut unnecessary logistics links and expenditures, we can significantly bolster the growth momentum of the manufacturing sector, promote the development of the real economy, and ensure smooth domestic and international dual circulation, thereby strongly advancing the building of a unified national market in China.

Director of the Institute of Modern Supply Chain, Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Commerce Lin Meng: Reducing logistics costs provides significant support for the development of a unified national market. For instance, improved logistics efficiency mitigates the impact of geographic distance on market fragmentation, thereby accelerating the formation of a cohesive market. By establishing a unified national market, eliminating cross-regional institutional barriers, and harmonizing relevant rules and standards, we can also lower institutional transaction costs in logistics and enhance the efficiency of logistics coordination and operations.

As a key component of China’s efforts to build a unified national market, the country has seen an overall downward trend in social logistics costs in recent years. Total social logistics expenses and… GDP The ratio of is 2012 year's 18% , down to 2024 year's 14.1% , which means that for every creation 100 Yuan GDP The logistics expenses incurred, from 18 From yuan to 14.1 yuan. However, compared with developed countries, the total social logistics costs in China account for… GDP Its share remains relatively high.

Lin Meng: Total social logistics costs are a macroeconomic concept, and their level is primarily determined by industrial and resource allocation, the state of logistics infrastructure, and the degree of intensive, modernized logistics operations. In developed countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan, this figure generally stands at only… 7% Compared with developed countries, China still has considerable room for improvement.

A birch‑sap producer headquartered in Yichun, Heilongjiang, conducted extensive site assessments last year and established its finished‑goods logistics transshipment hub in Langfang, Hebei. Leveraging the region’s well‑developed logistics infrastructure and services, the company can now deliver most of its products on the same day they are ordered, with next‑day delivery for the majority of shipments. At present, the company relies exclusively on road transport across its entire supply chain—from production to distribution and sales—and further reductions in logistics costs will require the integration of additional transportation modes.

Director of Operations, Beijing Jiahua Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Li Lei: At the Yichun plant, rail freight is currently virtually at a standstill. We have a need to ship directly by rail from Yichun to Langfang, and then transfer the goods via short-haul trucking to this location—this would significantly reduce costs. Beyond rail, we’re also considering locating the processing facility further south, perhaps in Guangzhou. Another option would be to use maritime transport—shipping from ports in Northeast China and then transferring the cargo by vessel. If intermodal rail‑road transportation proves feasible, it could cut costs by at least… 20% to 30% Transportation costs.

The challenges faced by this enterprise are highly representative of those confronting manufacturing firms across China. From a transportation‑mode perspective, road transport incurs the highest costs yet accounts for more than 70% of the country’s logistics capacity, while the relatively lower‑cost rail and waterway modes remain underutilized. Optimizing and restructuring the transport mix and accelerating the development of multimodal transport are key levers for reducing costs, improving quality, and enhancing efficiency in the transport and logistics sector.

Cao County, located in the heart of southwestern Shandong Province, is home to a thriving cluster of foreign‑trade enterprises. From canned foods to furniture and handicrafts, all must be shipped via Qingdao Port for export overseas, with the two locations separated by… 500 For distances spanning many kilometers, how to transport goods to the port for loading in the fastest and most cost‑effective manner—while ensuring timely delivery of overseas orders and minimizing logistics costs—is a major concern for every company in this region.

A few years ago, the company relied on conventional road logistics to transport its goods to Qingdao Port. From securing containers and arranging trucks to handling the actual shipment, nearly every link in the supply chain was subject to a host of unpredictable factors, resulting in high costs and unreliable delivery times.

2022 Starting in [year], the company decided to abandon single‑mode road transport in favor of multimodal transportation. Once assembled, the sofas are packed at the factory, then hauled by truck to a rail yard just a few kilometers away. From there, they are shipped by train to the Qingdao Port terminal for loading onto ocean vessels. This approach not only reduces costs… 20% , the time it takes for goods to arrive at the port can also be reduced from the original 40 Several hours, reduced to less than 10 hours. For this company, a multimodal transport solution combining road, rail, and sea is the most efficient approach; however, such intermodal transshipment involves numerous steps and stakeholders. The reason the company can leverage this integrated road‑rail‑sea network is the establishment of Cao County Inland Port. An inland port is a comprehensive logistics hub that provides port‑related functions, including customs clearance and other border‑control services.

2016 In [year], Cao County Inland Port was established and gradually opened five dedicated railway lines, enabling seamless intermodal transshipment. Under the influence of Cao County Inland Port, logistics corridors such as the Beijing–Kowloon Railway and the Yangtze River waterway… 3 a seaport, 19 All inland ports are interconnected. This not only effectively reduces logistics costs and boosts efficiency but also spares enterprises the hassle of running around to coordinate among multiple parties.

To date, Shandong Port Logistics Group has established inland ports across the country, such as the one in Cao County. 51 However, enabling these nodes to truly deliver value and effectively reduce logistics costs—while establishing a market with unified rules and standards—is no easy feat.

General Manager, Cao County Inland Port International Logistics Co., Ltd. Ren Wuduo: Road transport is straightforward—drivers simply load their containers and head back—but we have to navigate too many links in the chain: rail, ports, shipping lines, terminals, and container yards. If any one of these steps goes awry, the entire operation can fall apart.

In fact, multimodal transport is nothing new in the transportation and logistics sector. However, precisely because it involves numerous links and complex procedures, the costs of transferring between different modes of transport remain high, and efficiency is low. On the desks of staff at the Shandong Port’s sea‑rail intermodal hub, stacks of shipping documents from several years ago still lie, detailing the myriad formalities required to move a shipment from inland factories to the terminal.

Director of the Institute of Modern Supply Chain, Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Commerce Lin Meng: Over the years, the direct costs of logistics have declined quite significantly. However, between different modes of transport—such as rail, road, and waterway—there is still much work to be done to improve efficiency during short‑haul intermodal transfers, including tasks like transloading containers, changing containers, or optimizing overall operational efficiency along the supply chain.

From 2020 year 3 Starting this month, Shandong Port Logistics Group has launched a digital transformation and upgrade of its inland ports, gradually breaking down information silos across railways, highways, customs, and other departments.

Most of these densely packed containers are shipped in advance from Qingdao Port, allowing local businesses to use them right at their doorstep. This means companies no longer need to source containers themselves; dispatching a single shipment is as convenient as packing a parcel for delivery. In… On the “Lu Haitong” smart logistics multimodal transport platform, vessel movements and container information are readily visible at a glance.

This marks the ninth year that Ren Wuduo has been operating as a multimodal transport service provider. The number of her clients has grown steadily each year, and her reach has expanded from Cao County to the surrounding areas. 200 Over many kilometers, in addition to helping businesses cut logistics costs, the seamless integration of data and improved logistics efficiency enable numerous services to be handled online with a single click. A company’s shipment can now reach rivers and seas with nothing more than a single document.

In a conference room adjacent to the Qingdao Port terminal, an on-site coordination meeting is underway to expand and upgrade sea-rail intermodal transport. 2024 Annual sea-rail intermodal throughput at Qingdao Port 254.6 Ten thousand TEUs, up year on year. 15.3% , consecutive 10 It ranks first nationwide. The existing… 4 The railway line serving sea–rail intermodal transport can no longer keep pace with growing demand and urgently requires further expansion and upgrading. To reduce overall logistics costs, in addition to continuously improving physical infrastructure, technological and institutional innovations are emerging as the primary focus of local efforts in both policy formulation and practical implementation.

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized that it is necessary to… “Improve the circulation system, accelerate the development of the Internet of Things, and refine integrated, seamless rules and standards for logistics to reduce overall social logistics costs.” This year, China will further deepen the restructuring of its transportation system, launch a targeted initiative to optimize the transport mix, and expedite the shift of bulk cargo transport in key regions from road to rail and from road to water. Effectively lowering society-wide logistics costs does not mean simply cutting direct transportation expenses or squeezing the reasonable profits of logistics enterprises; rather, it entails adjusting the structure, advancing reforms, optimizing the allocation of logistics resources across the economy, strengthening coordination and seamless integration among all links, and comprehensively enhancing the operational efficiency of the logistics system—ultimately benefiting both the industry and its customers.