Shanxi province has made significant progress in reducing logistics costs and increasing logistics efficiency in recent years with the proportion of logistics costs to local GDP dropping from 17.8 percent in 2019 to 17.3 percent in 2020.

This is due to the strong development of internet-based freight transport in the past two years and the promotion of multimodal transport. 

As of July, 490,000 freight vehicles and 507,000 drivers in Shanxi had transported 300 million metric tons of freight with an internet-based freight transport turnover of 28.5 billion yuan ($4.41 billion). 

"The traditional logistics industry has very low efficiency, while internet-based freight transport reduces transaction time and empty driving rates by turning logistics into platform and digital economies," said Wu Xiuwu, director of the transportation management division of the Shanxi Transportation Department. 

Shanxi has also promoted containerized multimodal transportation.

The province launched the multimodal transportation of bulk commodities with the help of the local Fanglue Bonded Logistics Center and Zhongding Logistics Park in November 2017.

Zhongding Logistics Park has cooperated with well-known companies in the logistics, manufacturing, and service industries and launched multimodal transport services such as road-rail, rail-air, and express train services, establishing a multimodal transport network covering China, Asia, and Europe.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), Shanxi will adopt measures targeting existing problems in local logistics development.

The province will continue to support the development of internet-based freight transport. By the end of 2025, there is expected to be 500 internet-based freight transport companies in Shanxi with a total revenue of 300 billion yuan. 

The technical level and operational and management efficiency of the modern logistics industry will be improved with the support of new infrastructure, new technologies, new materials, new products, new equipment, and new industries. 

Shanxi will also optimize its logistics layout and further the construction of logistics infrastructure. 

Logistics engineering, cold chain engineering, coordinated development of e-commerce and logistics, smart logistics engineering, and the incubation of flagship enterprises will be implemented to enhance the core competitiveness of the logistics industry.