Recently, the X8719 express freight train carrying Jiangsu non-ferrous metal wire, automotive parts, cotton yarn and other goods departed from the East Freight Yard of Changzhou Station in Nanjing Railway Logistics Center and headed to Shilong Station in Guangzhou, Guangdong. On the same day, the X8751 express freight train loaded with goods departed from Shilong Station in Guangzhou and headed towards Changzhou Station. At this point, the Changzhou Shilong express freight train has achieved bi-directional operation, providing more convenient logistics services to promote the coordinated economic development of the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions.
Logistics is an important link in the smooth circulation of the national economy. In recent years, China has introduced a series of policy measures to reduce logistics costs. The level of social logistics costs has steadily decreased, and the comprehensive efficiency and service level of logistics have significantly improved, providing strong support for building a modern economic system and promoting high-quality economic development in China.
The relevant person in charge of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing stated that since the first quarter, China's logistics operation has generally continued the previous recovery trend, with a steady increase in the total growth rate of social logistics, an increase in logistics market activity, and a continuous optimization of supply structure, which has helped improve the overall efficiency of economic operation. "Especially in March, the pace of upgrading the upstream and downstream industrial structure has accelerated, the efficiency of transportation and storage turnover has significantly improved, market operators' expectations have improved, and the overall logistics operation is stable and progressing."
Logistics operation has started well
The overall level of recovery is stable with some improvement
Recently, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing released data showing that the total amount of social logistics in the first quarter of 2024 was 88 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 5.9% based on comparable prices. The growth rate was 0.5 percentage points faster than the fourth quarter of last year and 2 percentage points higher than the same period last year.
Meng Yuan, Deputy Director of the Logistics Statistics Department of China Logistics Information Center, analyzed that in terms of growth rate, the total amount of social logistics has accelerated compared to the same period last year and the fourth quarter of last year, continuing the upward trend since last year, demonstrating a good start to logistics operations and an overall stable and rising recovery level. From the perspective of the total structure of social logistics, the agricultural products, imports, and people's livelihood consumption sectors are basically stable. The proportion of industrial logistics to the total social logistics is still 88%, and the role of logistics in supporting the production sector is still strong. Compared with the fourth quarter of last year, the growth rate of logistics demand in industries such as industrial production and people's livelihood consumption has maintained a relatively fast recovery trend, and the driving effect is more obvious.
Meng Yuan pointed out that, in general, the policy effect has continued to be remarkable since the first quarter, especially with the implementation of policies related to large-scale equipment renewal and the consumer goods trade in action plan, plus the central government has repeatedly proposed to effectively reduce the logistics cost of the whole society, and promote logistics development, logistics related fixed assets investment investment has maintained a steady growth (including railway transport investment growth of 17.6%, air transport investment growth of 35.4%), the level of logistics infrastructure continues to improve, and logistics operations will continue to recover from a good situation. However, it should also be noted that the process of logistics recovery is still fluctuating significantly, and the foundation for recovery needs to be consolidated. Currently, logistics is still in a critical stage of steady recovery, structural adjustment, transformation, and upgrading.
The overall recovery trend of the logistics industry is obvious
Rural e-commerce logistics continues to develop rapidly
Zheng Guangjun is a truck driver who has been driving on the Yunman platform for over a decade. After this year's Spring Festival, especially since March, Master Zheng, who has been transporting goods in sports cars in Guangdong and Fujian regions, has clearly felt the increase in orders.
After attending a relative's wedding in his hometown on May Day, Zheng Guangjun drove his 6.8 meter high railcar back to Guangdong to transport goods. He told reporters that apart from being limited by the conditions of the vehicle itself, it is not possible to transport fresh ingredients such as seafood that require insulation. He does not pick any products, as long as he sees orders with suitable prices, he will accept them. "I just want to take advantage of this good market trend and run more trains to earn more money."
According to data released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, the total revenue of the logistics industry in the first quarter was 3.1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%, and the recovery trend is basically in sync with logistics demand. Especially since March, logistics activity has increased, with significant positive changes in most areas, including new orders, total business volume, equipment utilization, inventory turnover, and other indicators.
According to data from the Yunmanman platform, the ton weight of "furniture and home" goods shipped in late March increased by 96.2% compared to early March, "digital appliances" increased by 26.1%, and "clothing, textiles, and leather" increased by 21.9%.
"The overall recovery trend of the logistics industry in the first quarter was obvious, and the level of industry prosperity has significantly rebounded." In response, Meng Yuan said that the average business volume index in the logistics prosperity index in the first quarter increased by 0.3 percentage points compared to the same period last year, indicating that the current recovery trend of logistics business activities is good.
Meng Yuan further pointed out that from the perspective of sub sectors, the warehousing and logistics business has rebounded significantly, and the growth level of logistics business indicators in areas such as air transportation and e-commerce logistics has reached a recent high. In the first quarter, the average index of e-commerce logistics business volume in China was 124.6 points, significantly higher than the average level of the same period last year. Among them, the average index of rural e-commerce logistics business volume is 127.0 points, which is still 2.4 percentage points faster than the overall e-commerce logistics business volume index, indicating that driven by factors such as rural demand growth and continuous improvement of county and township logistics distribution system construction, rural e-commerce logistics continues to develop rapidly.
Multimodal transportation and other fields are showing an accelerating development trend
Assist in reducing costs and increasing efficiency in transportation logistics
In the first quarter, the overall operation of transportation and logistics remained smooth, and areas such as multimodal transportation showed an accelerated development trend, helping to improve the efficiency and coordination of transportation and logistics.
Spring and the scenery are bright, and the grass and trees are turning green. The lifting vehicles at the International Public Railway Logistics Port in Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region shuttle back and forth between the cargo yard and the storage area to load and unload goods. The park mainly uses rail and public transportation as the main mode of transportation, radiating to adjacent areas such as Shaanxi, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, and North China, accelerating the development of an open economy in inland areas that are not along the border or near the sea.
Ningxia strengthens the effective connection between national and provincial trunk roads and industrial parks, unblocks the backbone road network of urban agglomerations and counties, promotes the construction of collection and distribution roads and railways, opens up the "last mile" of road rail, land air intermodal transportation, and effectively guarantees the efficient transportation of large commodities such as coal, ore, and chemical products.
"Through the 'one order' model and 'one box to the bottom' delivery, we have achieved the 'landing' of sea freight containers and the 'landing' of railway containers, reducing the delivery time of goods from 15 working days to 7 working days." Yan Xinghua, Chairman of Ningxia Xinhua Logistics Co., Ltd., told reporters that the company's container shipment volume in 2022 was about 20 TEUs per month, and now it has reached 400 TEUs per month.
This is a microcosm of China's development of multimodal transportation. In the first quarter, the supporting role of multimodal transportation in multiple important logistics hub regions in China has been strengthened, with Jiangsu Province completing a container transportation volume of 408500 TEUs, an increase of nearly 20%; The container rail water intermodal transportation volume in Hubei Province has reached 55800 TEUs, a year-on-year increase of nearly 30%, accounting for a historic high; The sea rail intermodal transportation volume of Liaoning ports increased by 29.3% year-on-year, and the coordinated promotion of efficient intermodal transportation in multiple regions accelerated the development.
"In the first half of the year, logistics operations are expected to continue to show a trend of recovery, stability, and improvement." Speaking of the future trend, Meng Yuan said that in the second quarter, with the acceleration of infrastructure project construction progress, logistics companies maintain optimistic expectations for future development. The expected business activity index has rebounded for two consecutive months and is operating at a high level of over 55%. In addition, investment in the logistics field is steadily recovering, and the development environment in logistics related fields continues to be optimized.