According to the China Water Transport Research Network: On August 2, 2013, Minister of Transport Yang Chuandang emphasized in the "Telephone Conference on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Logistics Industry", resolutely implement the spirit of the important instructions of the central government and the work plan of the State Council, and seriously implement the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Logistics Industry, to further raise awareness and unify thinking, take the initiative and forge ahead, and strive to accelerate the construction of an integrated transportation system, develop multimodal transport, and promote the construction and promotion of public information platforms for national and regional transportation and logistics Breakthrough progress has been made in five aspects including the development of rural logistics, urban distribution and express delivery services, and the cultivation of backbone enterprises, solidly promoting the healthy development of the logistics industry, and making greater contributions to China's economic and social development.

Experts in the industry pointed out that this is an important meeting after the Ministry of Transport's jurisdiction over the five modes of transportation including railway, highway, water transportation, civil aviation, and postal service, marking that China has truly opened the curtain of the "big logistics era."

Transportation changes the world

The history of human civilization is actually a history built on the development of transportation; the process of world development depends on the development of transportation.

Horses, such fast-running vehicles, once changed history: ancient long-distance wars relied almost exclusively on horses, for horsebacks, for pulling chariots, or for transporting supplies. The most typical is the iron hoof of Genghis Khan conquered Eurasia. The glory of the ancient Roman empire was also established because of its powerful horse team. On the surface, the hegemony of hegemony is the strength and weapon, but it is actually a competition of transportation. "The soldiers and horses must move before food and grass first." This "line" is transportation.

Water transportation naturally depends on ships. From canoes to iron-hulled ships, human water transport activities have completely changed the world: the maritime silk roads have brought together civilizations and production and life in the East and the West, and Columbus's navigation has made the earth no longer have unknown territory. A new industrial civilization has become the mainstream of world economic development relying on transportation.

  Today, criss-crossing railways and highways, such as brocade-like fairways and routes, make the circulation of global materials more convenient. With the wave of information, the circulation of materials has become faster, more accurate, and more efficient. Economic construction has also developed rapidly with the continuous development of transportation. For example, along the subway line in each city, house prices always rise rapidly with the opening of stations.

However, there is a theoretical misunderstanding-some people think that with the popularization of the Internet, the circulation of materials has become faster. The integration and processing of information can naturally be done quickly, but the circulation of goods is not necessarily, especially for bulk goods. Therefore, the true logistics must realize the smooth flow of the supply chain in multiple links.

There are different opinions on what is logistics. The National Science and Technology Terminology Examination Committee has a definition: logistics is part of the supply chain activities, and it is the planning, implementation, and implementation of efficient, low-cost flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from origin to consumption in order to meet customer needs The process of control.

In this process, transportation carries most of the tasks of logistics. As a result, transportation is constantly changing the world, not only having a wide-ranging impact on the economic sphere, but also on the military sphere. Judging from the several wars carried out by the United States in the past three decades, the protection of sea, land and air transport forces is the key to winning the war.

Modern logistics is not yet "modern"

With the development of society to this day, logistics has profoundly affected our lives. With the next order, you will receive the required supplies while sitting in the office or at home. But isn't there much room for development in the logistics industry? Is the modernization level of the logistics industry high? The answer is no.

According to data released by the National Development and Reform Commission, the total national social logistics in 2012 was 177.3 trillion yuan. With the development of the market economy, the logistics industry has gone from a terminal industry in the past to a leading industry that guides production and promotes consumption. The modern logistics industry is focusing on modern transportation, supported by information technology, and based on modern manufacturing and commerce, showing a thriving development trend. However, China's modern logistics is not "modern" and there are still many problems to be solved. In 2012, the total amount of social logistics across the country seemed huge, but the profit margin of the main business income of various logistics enterprises was 4.72%. After deducting the relatively high profit port enterprises, the profit margin was only 3.71%.

The cost is too high, which is the pain of the logistics industry. Take the national social logistics costs in 2012 as an example: the proportion of transportation costs in total social logistics costs is 52.5%; the storage costs account for 35.2% of total social logistics costs; and the management costs account for 12.3% of total social logistics costs. It can be seen that the cost of transportation accounts for more than half of the total cost, which is an urgent problem that needs to be solved. Among them, institutional obstacles are a major reason.

Previously, due to the multiple management of railways, highways, water transport, aviation, postal and other departments, each of them had its own policies, which resulted in the poor connection of multiple modes of transport, which in turn restricted the development of multimodal transport. The essence of modern logistics is a one-stop, integrated service, which requires uniformity in terms of hardware facilities, service standards and information transmission. The result of multi-head management is that various transportation methods form different operating rules, different network patterns, different price mechanisms, and different information systems in various fields, which cannot make logistics a one-stop and efficient service.

Another pillar of modern logistics is the imperfect information construction. Chinese logistics companies are still in a relatively primitive and low-level stage. According to statistics, only 21% of enterprises have implemented or partially implemented informatization, and only 10% of enterprises have fully implemented informatization. In the entire industry's supply chain, the information flow between the company and upstream and downstream has not been opened up. Too many circulation links have led to high circulation costs. This is because many logistics companies have low levels of information construction and cause poor information. .

In addition, some special goods have been plagued by the logistics industry, such as fresh products in agricultural (sea) products. Due to its difficulty in keeping fresh, the loss rate is as high as 10% -30%, and the average logistics cost is 15% -20% or even higher. , Often makes logistics companies prohibitive.

The era of big logistics is coming

Although China has encountered various problems and difficulties in the implementation of modern logistics, the era of "big logistics" is irresistible.

The background of today's international logistics is economic globalization. Economic globalization is the most important trend in the development of the world today. Other trends cannot but be affected and restricted by this trend. The continuous expansion of international trade has provided a broad space for development of international logistics. In the past 20 years, the average global trade volume of goods has increased by 5.4%, even though it was seen as a trough in 2012, it also increased by 3.7%. The dependence on world trade is still on the rise. Especially after the acceleration of Asian economic integration, the dependence on Asian merchandise trade has been above 50% in recent years. Recently, Premier Li Keqiang emphasized that the concept of "pave the maritime silk road facing ASEAN" will strengthen the economic cooperation between China and ASEAN, and the marine development and construction will also promote the rapid development of the logistics industry. In terms of bulk cargo capacity, the world's merchant fleet for transport exceeds 1 billion dwt, and new energy-saving, environmentally-friendly, and efficient new vessels are constantly put into operation. The construction of shipping centers and branch lines are also contributing to the situation.

In 2012, China's total trade volume was US $ 3,866.7 billion, surpassing the United States for the first time (US $ 38,828.59 billion), and becoming the world's largest trade country.

According to the foreign trade forecast released by the Ministry of Commerce, China's total foreign trade will reach US $ 5.30 billion in 2020. According to Standard Chartered Bank's analysis and research, China plans to make Shanghai, the economic center, a world trade, financial and logistics center by 2020, to achieve international standards in all aspects, and to have the same influence as New York, London and Hong Kong. Due to China's vast land area, uneven development in the east, central and western regions, the potential for domestic trade development is huge. In 2012, when the global economic situation was in a doldrums, it was the rapidly rising e-commerce and logistics industry that injected new vitality into the Chinese economy and maintained relatively stable growth. In the first half of this year, China's economic growth rate was 7.6%, of which domestic demand contributed 7.5 points, and it is still one of the best-performing countries in the world's major economies. In the future development of China's economy, the logistics industry will play an irreplaceable and important role.

Another characteristic of the advent of the era of large logistics is that China's transportation infrastructure has caught up with the developed countries in the world. In terms of railways, by the end of 2012, the operating mileage of national railways reached 98,000 kilometers, ranking second in the world; the operating mileage of high-speed railways reached 9,356 kilometers, ranking first in the world. In terms of highways, at the end of 2012, the total mileage of national highways reached 4.2375 million kilometers, and the national highway mileage reached 96,200 kilometers, ranking second in the world. In terms of water transportation, China's port throughput has ranked first in the world for 9 consecutive years, of which there are 29 large-tonnage ports; the fleet has a total capacity of more than 100 million dwt, ranking third in the world; in aviation, at the end of 2012, there were 1,941 transport aircraft in the industry. There are 183 transport airports and 46 airlines. In terms of postal services, there were 96,000 business outlets and 24,000 postal routes in 2012, covering all cities and villages in the administrative area.

Transportation infrastructure construction is a prerequisite to ensure the rapid development of the era of large logistics. In the past, the government eliminated all difficulties and laid a solid foundation for the future. Not only that, Minister Yang Chuandang also emphasized that in the future, it will continue to strengthen the construction of important transport corridors and logistics hubs, accelerate the planning and construction of railways, highways, waterways, and airports in comprehensive transport corridors such as the Yangtze River and coastal areas, and accelerate research and propose policies to support the construction of logistics hubs. Measures to optimize and strengthen the construction of the collection and distribution system. All these are building a high-speed operation platform for the development of future large logistics.

So entrepreneurs with a keen sense of smell started to enter this field.

Alibaba Group, China's largest e-commerce company, announced its foray into the logistics industry. It will invest 300 billion yuan in the next ten years to build open socialized logistics and storage facilities across major cities in China. Its slogan is "Let the 2000 cities across China Online shopping packages delivered to your doorstep within 24 hours. "

Policy loosening, casting brand

Minister Yang Chuantang pointed out that it is necessary to coordinate and cooperate with relevant departments to provide policy support for large transportation enterprises to set up branches and increase operating outlets, and to formulate policies and measures to support the development of small and medium logistics enterprise alliances as soon as possible.

This idea of ​​Minister Yang pointed out the crux of China's logistics industry: policies and measures and corporate self-reliance must go hand in hand.

China's logistics industry started late, so it is very hopeful that it will take advantage of late-development advantages by means of information technology to complete the development of leading international logistics companies for decades in a short time. In recent years, the informatization construction has indeed achieved leapfrog development, but if the policy is not well coordinated, it will be impossible to cultivate a local brand logistics enterprise with international competitiveness.

As early as 2009, the State Council issued the “Logistics Industry Adjustment and Revitalization Plan”, which states that: breaking the blockade, integrating existing resources, reforming the current management system of logistics-related industries, breaking the division and blockade between sectors and regions, and creating A level playing field promotes the socialization of logistics services and the marketization of resource utilization, prioritizes the integration and utilization of existing logistics resources, and improves the utilization of logistics facilities.

  However, in fact, the biggest problem in the logistics industry still lies in policies and measures, and the focus is still in the field of transportation. Inadequate policies and measures, standards have not been established uniformly, allowing logistics companies to survive in the cracks; transportation costs are too high, logistics companies cannot obtain due profits, invest more and produce less, naturally it is difficult to form a brand and competitiveness.

  Therefore, the state has realized the integration of major ministries on the basis of long-term development. The Ministry of Transport has covered five major modes of transportation except pipeline transportation. This is a big game. Among them, the railway transportation is being separated from the administration and the enterprise, and it is trying to use the advantages of China's railway network by means of marketization. For the water transportation industry, due to its high degree of internationalization, although it was strongly affected by the global financial crisis, it will become the leading force in the logistics industry after several rounds of international games, because more than 90% of China's bulk goods are realized by water transportation. The relatively low cost of water transportation can also have a positive impact on China's logistics industry.

  From the speech delivered by Minister Yang Chuantang, the Ministry of Transport has deeply recognized the main contradictions hindering the development of China's logistics industry. It will break the previous divisions and formulate a series of policies and measures suitable for China's logistics industry. Various infrastructure constructions in the logistics industry, improving facilities and equipment standards, operating procedures, transportation organization, information exchange, intermodal transportation, laws and regulations. Minister Yang also particularly emphasized that it will accelerate the cultivation of dragon-headed enterprises. This is a forward-looking guide. The rise of an industry must foster benchmarking companies, make them pioneers in the era of big logistics, and industry brands, and provide reference models for less-advanced SMEs in order to promote the overall development of the industry.

China does not currently have world-class logistics companies such as UPS, FedEX, Deutsche Post World Net, Maersk Logistics, and Ritong. COSCO Logistics, China Post Logistics, and Jincheng International Logistics are also growing. Small logistics companies are still in the "guerrilla" stage, struggling to survive among various regulations and rates.

To get rid of this embarrassment, it is most necessary for the relevant national departments to form a concerted effort to adopt active fiscal policies, tax policies, financial policies, etc .; it is necessary to provide business registration, licenses, unified taxation, unified taxation, Create a good business environment in traffic control, import and export cargo inspection and customs clearance; support and guide logistics companies and logistics service companies to introduce advanced equipment, improve logistics facilities, and then improve logistics performance and logistics service levels; actively encourage and support large-scale freight transport Enterprises or storage and transportation companies improve their service functions, realize the transformation to logistics service companies, and promote the formation of third-party logistics service markets; they must improve social security and employment mechanisms, and promote the use of socialized logistics by companies such as productivity and circulation. To improve both economic and social benefits, establish a unified, open, competitive and orderly large market; strengthen the research and development and application of logistics technology, accelerate the transformation and upgrade of technologies at various nodes in production, storage, processing, transportation, and sales. Promote automated cold storage technology and warehouse management System, vacuum cooling technology, commercial non-destructive testing and processing, automatic temperature control truck technology and other advanced technology to improve the technical and technological renewal capacity. Only in this way can we stir up the times and add invisible wings to the national economic construction