To reduce the logistics cost of the whole society, we must do a good job in the "soft and hard combination" of "facilities + system + technology"

Author/Xu Ning

The level of social logistics cost is a concentrated embodiment of the quality and comprehensive competitiveness of national economic development.

The "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform and Promoting Chinese-style Modernization" adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasizes the need to "improve the circulation system, accelerate the development of the Internet of Things, improve the integrated circulation rules and standards, and reduce the logistics cost of the whole society" in the part of building a high-level socialist market economy system.

It should be noted that the mainland government attaches great importance to solving the problem of logistics costs. The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Modern Logistics" issued in 2022 clearly regards "promoting the quality, efficiency and cost reduction of logistics" as an important task for the development of modern logistics during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.

(Image source: Internet)

▍The problem of "high cost and low efficiency" is still prominent

At the Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of last year, "effectively reducing the logistics cost of the whole society" was clearly mentioned. At the fourth meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Commission held in late February this year, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Commerce made a report on effectively reducing the logistics cost of the whole society.

This year's "Government Work Report" proposes to "implement actions to reduce logistics costs". The executive meeting of the State Council in May this year was devoted to the study of the relevant work of effectively reducing the logistics costs of the whole society. The issue of logistics costs has been repeatedly mentioned in important meetings, and a series of documents and policy measures have anchored the "reduction of logistics costs", reflecting the determination of the central government to reduce the logistics costs of the whole society.

。 Internationally, the ratio of total social logistics costs to GDP is usually used to measure the level of logistics costs invested in economic operation.

While affirming the achievements, it should also be noted that compared with developed countries, the proportion of total social logistics costs in GDP is still high, the problem of "high cost and low efficiency" is still more prominent, and there is still room for reduction in logistics costs.

There are many reasons for the high social logistics cost in the mainland, such as high institutional costs, low degree of marketization, insufficient supply chain management level, lagging logistics standardization construction, and insufficient integration of logistics element resources.

At present, more than 70% of the mainland's logistics market is completed by road transportation, which is more expensive and polluting than rail and water transportation.

There is also not much room for the cost of fuel from cars and highways to fall. On the whole, the mainland railway transportation is still a non-competitive market, the coordination between the local road bureaus is not smooth, the construction of special railway lines for ports and large enterprises is lagging behind, the accessibility is not high, and it is not easy to apply for approval of access to the national railway transportation network, which makes the railway transportation have the problem of "connecting but not smooth, adjacent but not connected".

In the field of logistics, there are problems such as industry monopoly, local protection, and regional segmentation to varying degrees, and the lack of cooperation and independent work between various platform companies has resulted in a large investment in social resources, and even a relative surplus.

Problems such as the many transportation and miscellaneous expenses, the opaque entrusted operation, the difficulty in guaranteeing storage land, and the inconsistent standards of carriers highlight the reality of insufficient logistics standardization construction, and it is difficult for upstream and downstream enterprises in the logistics supply chain to coordinate and linkage, which further pushes up the logistics cost of the whole society.

The mainland is still in the stage of traditional logistics management, lacking a full-chain management system from the source of goods to the circulation intermediary to the consumer.

For example, if Shandong Shouguang's garlic is to be sold to consumers in Beijing, it must be turned over at least 5 times, which not only increases the cost of handling, handling, unloading and storage, but also brings a certain amount of loss. According to a study by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the weighted average loss and waste rate of the seven major categories of food in mainland China is 22.7% by weight, about 460 million tons, of which 300 million tons are lost in production and circulation. These losses are also increasing the total cost of social logistics.

▍Reducing the logistics cost of the whole society is a systematic project

Reducing the logistics cost of the whole society is a systematic project, not only to focus on the transportation, warehousing, management and other links of the logistics industry itself, but also to make efforts in product structure, industrial organization, factor allocation, etc., and to do a good job in the "soft and hard combination" of "facilities + system + technology".

。 Channels, hubs and outlets are the three basic elements of building a modern logistics system. Rational layout of logistics network and optimization of transportation route design can not only reduce logistics time and transportation mileage, but also greatly reduce logistics costs.

It is necessary to improve the transportation infrastructure, improve the transportation capacity and efficiency of the logistics channel, improve the national logistics hub and channel network, thoroughly implement the layout and construction plan of the national logistics hub, improve the logistics hub railway line, container yard, transfer station, highway liaison line and other supporting facilities and collection and distribution system, and build a logistics distribution network with large-scale organization and integrated operation of trunk and branch logistics and warehousing and distribution.

It is necessary to further optimize the transportation structure, speed up the development process of multimodal transport, improve the relevant transportation equipment, optimize the transportation routes, pragmatically promote the railway into the wharf, into the park, into the factory and mine, open up the "road to rail" and "road to water" blocking points, better connect the "station" and "factory", and give full play to the comparative advantages of different modes of transportation according to local conditions.

It is necessary to make overall plans for the construction of logistics hubs, build a number of modern logistics parks, concentrate on the layout of logistics facilities such as warehousing, distribution, and information, and improve the level of intensive utilization of logistics resources.

The links involved in logistics are very complicated, reducing institutional costs, improving the degree of marketization, optimizing the supervision and management process, and helping to establish a unified, efficient, competitive and efficient logistics market.

It is necessary to establish a coordination and cooperation mechanism between local governments and logistics enterprises, industry organizations, Internet platforms, and logistics practitioners, and strive to break down various forms of local protection and market segmentation. It is necessary to effectively reduce the cost of logistics taxes and fees, implement preferential tax policies in the logistics field, and strengthen the supervision of charging behavior in the logistics field.

We will continue to deepen the market-oriented reform of freight prices, improve the rules of the logistics market, improve the logistics price formation mechanism, promote the implementation of more flexible and diversified freight rates, and enhance the attractiveness of railway and waterway transportation.

At the same time, cultivate large-scale, networked, branded, and modern large-scale logistics enterprise groups, implement the cultivation of modern logistics leading enterprises, give full play to the role of private logistics enterprises in the integration and innovation of the supply chain industry chain, and support and guide logistics enterprises to improve service quality, timeliness and convenience.

。 In the past 10 years, the logistics industry has rapidly upgraded from traditional manual handling, manual distribution, and manual management to unmanned warehouses, automatic sorting, and intelligent distribution. Smart logistics plays an increasingly important role in shortening logistics time, improving distribution efficiency, reducing logistics delays and losses, reducing labor costs, and improving the efficiency of logistics funds, and has become the main direction of the logistics industry to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

It is necessary to improve the digital level of logistics entity hardware and logistics activities in the whole society, develop "artificial intelligence + modern logistics", promote the digital transformation of traditional logistics infrastructure, and accelerate the green transformation of logistics.

In addition, it is necessary to improve the data technology standard system, accelerate the establishment of various technical standards for data coding, management, and security in the logistics industry, unify the technical interface standards of different platforms, improve the convenience of platform compatibility and data exchange, and promote high-level logistics operation with high-quality data flow.

In the long run, the effective reduction of the logistics cost of the whole society will face many challenges, in the coordination of various departments, the logistics infrastructure will continue to improve, new technologies and new models will accelerate the application, the mainland logistics cost is expected to gradually reduce to a more reasonable level. (Source: Half Moon Talk; Original title: "Reducing the Logistics Cost of the Whole Society")