The State Council approved a plan to develop modern logistics during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), according to a circular released on Dec 15.

By 2025, China will basically establish a safe, efficient, smart and green modern logistics system featuring good balance between supply and demand, and connectivity between domestic and international logistics, according to the circular.

Meanwhile, innovation capacity on logistics and enterprises’ competitiveness will be further strengthened, and the quality and efficiency of logistics service will be improved, which means the ratio of total social logistics costs to GDP will be about 2 percentage points lower than in 2020, the circular said.

A total of 120 national logistics hubs and about 100 national major cold chain logistics bases will be built to form a backbone logistics infrastructure network with national logistics hubs at its core.

A modern logistics system focuses on accelerating the integration of logistics hub resources to shore up the structural and functional weaknesses of inland hub facilities and building channels connecting domestic and international logistics, while it highlights better serving people's livelihood by extending delivery services to every village and establishing a dynamic monitoring and tracing system covering the whole chain of cold chain logistics, the circular said.

The quality and efficiency of logistics will be improved while reducing its costs through encouraging sharing logistics resources, integrating dispersed transportation, warehousing and distribution, and speeding up inventory turnover, the circular said, adding integrating logistics and the manufacturing sector, and promoting smart logistics by application of technology such as 5G, big data, and AI.

The circular also underlined the development of green logistics. The construction of supporting facilities such as charging piles for cargo vehicles, hydrogen refueling stations, shore power facilities for inland waterway vessels, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) refueling stations will be strengthened to push for energy conservation and emissions reduction in the logistics sector.

Building an international logistics network should be accelerated, with efforts to encourage large logistics enterprises to actively get involved in building overseas ports, warehouses, and distribution networks, to cultivate large-scale, specialized backbone enterprises involving the international air logistics sector.