China has announced a plan to build a cold chain logistics network by 2025 that connects production areas and sales areas, covers urban and rural areas, and connects domestic and international trade.
Its two cold chain logistics systems will serve domestic production and sales, as well as international import and export, and build intensive facilities, efficient transportation, and high-quality services.
It will build ‘four horizontal’ cold chain logistics channels in the north, Shandong, Shaanxi, Tibet, Yangtze River, and in the south. Also ‘four vertical’ cold chain logistics channels in the west, Erguang, Beijing, Hubei, Fujian, and eastern coastal areas.
Both the horizontal and vertical national cold chain logistics backbone channel networks will have internal and external connections.
In order to enhance the cold chain international combined transportation capabilities, the China’s fourteenth five-year plan relies on the China-ASEAN multimodal transport alliance base to expand the new western land-sea channel, sea-rail combined transportation, international rail combined transportation, and cross-border highway shuttle international cold chain logistics business.
The ‘Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for Cold Chain Logistics Development’, recently issued by the China’s General Office of the State Council, requires focusing on the outstanding bottlenecks and pain points which restrict the development of cold chain logistics, complementing the shortcomings of infrastructure, and smoothing channels.
The plan also requires improvement of the level of technical equipment, improve the supervision and guarantee mechanism, and accelerate the establishment of a modern cold chain logistics system that is smooth and efficient, safe and green, smart and convenient, and powerful.
The aim is to establish a cold chain logistics that meets China’s national conditions and industrial structure characteristics and meet-up the needs of economic and social development.
The existing system has significantly improved the ability and efficiency to regulate the cross-season supply and demand of agricultural products and support the cross-regional circulation of cold chain products.
The aviation cold chain logistics of food and pharmaceutical products will improve the efficiency of air and air combined transportation, encourage major agricultural import and export to port cities to actively develop international cold chain logistics multimodal transportation, and build a number of international cold chain logistics gateway hubs.
Sharar Nayel
Asia Correspondent
