The Strongest Logistics Hub in China, Originating From The Central And Western Regions

The strongest logistics hub in China, originating from the central and western regions

 

 

The continuous improvement and upgrading of China's logistics network is behind the faster the express delivery runs, from "three-day delivery", "next day delivery" to "same day hour delivery".

 

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice to include 30 national logistics hubs in the new batch of construction list, bringing the total number of national logistics hubs to 181.

 

Among these 181 national logistics hubs, Chongqing and Wuhan each have 5 hubs, tied for first place in the country. They are also the only two cities that have completed the layout of five national logistics hubs: port type, land port type, airport type, production service type, and commercial service type.

 

The concept of national logistics hub was first proposed in the "National Logistics Hub Layout and Construction Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Transport. It refers to a comprehensive logistics hub with a wider radiation area, stronger agglomeration effect, better service functions, and higher operational efficiency, playing a key node, important platform, and backbone hub role in the national logistics network.

 

So what does having a large number of national logistics hubs mean for a city? What does it mean that Chongqing and Wuhan have gathered five different types of national logistics hubs?

 

The total number has reached 181

 

In the "National Logistics Hub Layout and Construction Plan" released in 2018, it was officially proposed to promote the development and construction of national logistics hubs.

 

The Plan specifies the selection of 127 cities with certain basic conditions nationwide as the carrier cities for national logistics hubs, and plans to construct 212 national logistics hubs, covering six types: land port, port, airport, production service, commercial service, and road border port. And it is proposed to build about 30 national logistics hubs by 2020, layout and construct 150 by 2025, and basically form a national logistics hub network that is compatible with the modern economic system by 2035.

 

Seven years later, the country optimized and adjusted the layout and construction of logistics hubs.

 

In February of this year, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Plan for Optimizing and Adjusting the Layout of National Logistics Hubs". Following the principle of "combining reality and dynamically adjusting with progress and retreat", 26 new national logistics hubs were added, and the planning and layout of some national logistics hubs were optimized and adjusted.

 

After adjustment, there are a total of 152 national logistics hubs carrying cities, with 229 national logistics hubs planned and constructed, including land port type (46), port type (37), airport type (23), production service type (53), commercial service type (53), and land border port type (17). That is to say, both the number of cities and logistics hubs have significantly increased compared to before.

 

Once the plan is in place, the key is to implement it. In 2019, the first batch of "National Logistics Hub Construction List" was released, with 23 logistics hubs selected. So far, the National Development and Reform Commission has released a total of 7 batches of national logistics hub construction lists, including 181 hubs covering 31 provinces (regions, cities), 5 planned cities, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. That is to say, the goal of "building 150 national logistics hubs by 2025" proposed in the "Plan" has been achieved.

 

A reporter from Time Weekly sorted out the list of 7 batches of national logistics hub construction and found that the distribution of different types in each batch showed a significant trend of change.

 

Early batches of national logistics hubs relied more on geographical endowments for layout and construction, with a higher proportion of port, land port, and airport hubs. In the seventh batch of 30 national logistics hubs announced this year, there has been a significant shift in the layout approach. There are 19 production service and commercial service hubs, accounting for 63%, an increase of 33 percentage points compared to the first batch.

 

Hu Huiming, Vice President of the Logistics Planning and Research Institute of China IoT and Director of the Hub Economy Research Institute, told Time Weekly reporters that this transformation intuitively indicates that the national logistics hub layout is accelerating its integration with industrial development. From the quantity, it can be clearly seen that in the previous batches of construction lists, land port and port type hubs were the majority, while in the latest batch of lists, the proportion of production service and commercial service hubs has significantly increased

 

He also mentioned that the country is currently conducting research on national logistics hub economic zones, focusing on exploring the deep integration and interaction path between hubs and regional economic industries. At the top-level design level of industrial development, active exploration will also be carried out around how hubs can drive regional economic and industrial development.

 

It is understood that the optimization and adjustment of the layout of national logistics hubs will not only further improve the balanced development level of the national logistics hub network, but also perfect the modern logistics operation system of "channel+hub+network"; Better connect national logistics channels, comprehensive transportation channels, important railway logistics bases, inland ports and other important logistics nodes, and improve overall logistics operation efficiency and service quality.

 

More importantly, it can also achieve basic coverage or effective radiation of cities with a gross domestic product of over 400 billion yuan, further strengthening the support and guarantee for the transformation and upgrading of regional economic industries.

 

What does collecting all five types mean?

 

In recent years, China's logistics industry has maintained a steady growth trend, but there is still a certain gap in the development of logistics hubs compared to developed countries.

 

Most of the existing logistics hub facilities are planned and constructed independently, resulting in unclear synergies between hubs and the failure to form a smooth and convenient nationwide network. At the same time, the distribution of logistics hubs is not balanced enough, and the western region is significantly lagging behind. Some areas even have gaps, and the development mode is relatively extensive. In this context, a scientifically reasonable layout of logistics hubs becomes particularly important.

 

From the overall distribution of logistics hubs in these 181 countries, the central and western regions have the highest proportion, while the economically developed and well connected regions along the southeast coast also occupy an important share.

 

In terms of the number of hubs, Chongqing and Wuhan have performed outstandingly, each with 5 national logistics hubs, and both have completed full coverage layouts of port type, land port type, airport type, production service type, and commercial service type. Qingdao, Shenzhen, Xi'an, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Nanjing currently each have four national logistics hubs, while Chengdu, Changsha, and Hefei each have three.

 

It is worth noting that besides Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the other two first tier cities, Beijing and Shanghai, both have two national logistics hubs.

 

Beyond the four first tier cities, it is inseparable from the advantageous location and good industrial foundation of Chongqing and Wuhan.

 

As the center of the new land sea channel in western China and the first place of China Europe regular trains, Chongqing today has become a strategic hub for deeply integrating into the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" and connecting the Yangtze River Economic Belt; Wuhan, as the hub of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, efficiently radiates across the country with its geographical conditions as a thoroughfare connecting nine provinces.

 

But more importantly, the industrial chassis is strong enough: Chongqing, as a major industrial center in the western region, has a huge cluster of industries such as automobiles and electronic information, and logistics demand directly drives the construction of hubs; Wuhan relies on industrial highlands such as "Optics Valley" to form a strong linkage between advanced manufacturing and logistics hubs.

 

 

Such impressive results not only reflect the comprehensive strength of the two cities, but also highlight their key position in the national logistics network. So, what benefits will having five different types of national logistics hubs bring to Chongqing and Wuhan?

 

Regarding this, Hu Huiming explained that the basic driving force for the top-level design of national logistics hub construction is not the strength of individual hubs, but the formation of a national top-level networked layout with 152 national logistics hubs carrying cities and 229 national logistics hubs as nodes. Being included in the national construction list means being able to enter the perspective of the top-level network nodes of the country, play an important role in the construction of the national network, and enjoy the dividends of national strategy.

 

Both Chongqing and Wuhan have achieved full coverage of five types of national logistics hubs, which is equivalent to opening up five paths for them to deeply integrate into the national strategic layout and enjoy the national strategic dividends in all aspects and dimensions.

 

Hu Huiming further pointed out that from a national perspective, the fundamental driving force for the development of national logistics hubs lies in driving regional economic development. Taking Chongqing as an example, its significance lies not only in activating its own economic vitality, but also in leveraging the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Western Land Sea New Corridor, playing a leading role, and driving the coordinated development of surrounding regions.