Chengdu Daily: How can a smooth channel chain industry reduce costs and a logistics network make the real economy "string beads into a chain"?

Chengdu is a national logistics hub with airport, land port, and commercial service types, as well as a national demonstration city for supply chain innovation and application. By 2025, the added value of Chengdu's logistics industry chain will exceed 145 billion yuan, and the ratio of total social logistics costs to GDP will decrease by 12.63%, which is lower than the same period in the province and the country. By 2026, Chengdu will cultivate 3 national 5A level logistics enterprises and 6 4A level logistics enterprises, bringing the total number of A-level logistics enterprises in the city to 143.

A "Made in Chengdu" electronic chip and automotive component can be shipped out of the factory workshop and delivered to global industrial production lines in as fast as 72 hours; A salmon caught from a Nordic farming base can be placed on a dining table in Chengdu in as little as 36 hours. Efficient and smooth logistics services are key in the two-way economic and trade cooperation of "one in, one out", and also a "microcosm" of the development of Chengdu's modern logistics industry.

Logistics connects production and consumption, domestic and foreign trade, becoming the main artery of economic circulation and the "backbone" of the real economy. By 2030, China will have basically built a logistics network that closely coordinates hubs, industries, and consumption, connects channels and networks both internally and externally, has green and intelligent facilities and equipment, and is fully interconnected in terms of rules and information, better serving the high-quality development of the real economy.

Focusing on effectively reducing the logistics costs of the whole society and promoting the construction of a circle and strong chain in Sichuan's modern logistics industry, Sichuan has laid out the "3+10+N" modern logistics industry map. Chengdu, together with Luzhou and Dazhou, has become one of the three main carriers for optimizing and strengthening the modern logistics industry in the province, with Chengdu playing a "core" and "backbone" role.

Modern logistics is one of the key industrial chains for Chengdu to further promote the construction of industrial circles and strong chains. As an airport, land port, and commercial service national logistics hub, as well as a national demonstration city for supply chain innovation and application, how can Chengdu optimize and strengthen its modern logistics industry chain that embodies Chengdu's characteristics and comparative advantages, and how can the service industry "string beads into a chain, cluster into groups, and form a momentum"? How to leverage the hub effect to achieve close coordination between production and sales, turn "traffic" into "retention", promote cost reduction and efficiency improvement in the logistics industry, and stimulate industrial development vitality through innovation driven approaches? With these questions in mind, the "Chengdu Industrial Chain High Quality Development Survey Team" visited the front lines of economic construction such as enterprises, parks, and ports.

Change from 'traffic' to 'retention'

Why does a salmon cause the rapid expansion of Chengdu's seafood industry?

The Western Fresh Port, located adjacent to Shuangliu Airport, is a leading imported salmon processing base in terms of scale and level in China. On a 120 meter long assembly line, dozens of workers are busy dividing, slicing, slicing, and packaging imported fresh salmon. Soon, the whole fish turned into boxes of fresh and tender fish fillets. The salmon purchased by citizens in shopping malls and supermarkets comes from here.

Recently, a batch of imported equipment has been added, and the daily processing capacity has expanded to 8-10 tons, doubling from the initial 3-5 tons, "said Du Min, Chairman of Sichuan Meiyan Ocean Food Co., Ltd. Previously only sold fish meat, but now the industrial format is becoming more and more diverse. They have developed deep processed salmon products with different flavors and opened specialty stores in Chongqing, Xi'an, Kunming and other places.

In the past, most imported salmon sold in the Chengdu market were transported from Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places. Now, Chengdu's import salmon business is doing well. It is building a national distribution center for the import of salmon and other special items, and the salmon industry chain is expanding rapidly.

By 2025, the value of imported fresh salmon at Chengdu Airport Port will reach 1.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 34.5%, second only to Shanghai, making it the second largest import port for fresh salmon in China.

What makes Chengdu the second largest importer of salmon in China, without being along the Yangtze River or by the sea? With the support of efficient modern logistics services, "Du Min said that imported salmon is" competing for freshness from both ends ". The shorter the circulation time, the fresher and more tender the meat, and the better it tastes. Chengdu's efficient hub distribution capability has given the salmon import business core competitiveness.

High circulation efficiency means low operating costs for enterprises, which is the key to the growth of the imported salmon industry. Chengdu is the "third city" of dual international airports in mainland China. In recent years, it has vigorously expanded its international routes, with 87 regular direct international and regional routes connecting five continents around the world, creating an efficient and convenient air passage for salmon entering Chengdu. At the same time, Chengdu is comprehensively promoting the "two-stage access" model for fresh seafood products, optimizing the "green channel" for customs clearance of fresh cold chain products, and piloting the whitelist system for importers of fresh seafood products for the first time in the country, allowing enterprises to enjoy a more convenient customs clearance environment. The time for salmon to be caught from the production area and placed on the dining table in Chengdu has been reduced from 48 hours to within 36 hours.

Nowadays, cold chain logistics is closely related to people's lives, and Chengdu is a national backbone cold chain logistics base. In the construction of cold chain logistics, Chengdu Rural Commercial Bank Qingbaijiang Branch provides smooth financing channels for cold chain logistics enterprises and fully supports the extension, supplementation, and strengthening of modern logistics industry chains.

A salmon vividly explains the open development logic of "channel leads logistics, logistics promotes trade, and trade gathers industries". There are many such examples in Chengdu.

In the International Railway Port Comprehensive Bonded Zone at the northern end of Chengdu, the intelligent production line in TCL Optoelectronic Technology Building operates 24 hours a day without stopping. Previously, TCL products were mainly exported by sea, which took about 40 days for the entire transportation process. However, after taking the Chengdu Europe freight train, it only took more than 10 days. Nowadays, every day there are TCL special trains of China Europe freight trains loaded with goods produced by the Chengdu factory and transported abroad. ”Chen Hezhi, General Manager of TCL Optoelectronics Technology (Chengdu) Co., Ltd., said.

The international logistics efficiency has been improved, and the level of cooperation with global industries has correspondingly increased. The warehousing and capital costs have been significantly reduced, and the competitiveness in the international market has been enhanced. The prominent hub advantage has attracted TCL to invest in building TCL's world's only independent production base for esports displays, a global innovative intelligent manufacturing base for large screen TVs, and a bonded R&D center for esports displays in Chengdu, bringing more industries to Chengdu.

Nowadays, TCL Optoelectronics Technology Chengdu Company has developed into one of the top 100 manufacturing enterprises and a leading foreign trade enterprise in Chengdu. As the main enterprise of the chain, TCL Optoelectronics Technology has also driven suppliers of raw materials such as plastic casings, backboards, and foam adhesives, as well as packaging material companies, to invest and build factories in Chengdu, improving the local supporting service level of the intelligent manufacturing industry and building a new industrial ecosystem.

Reducing costs and increasing efficiency

How does a direct link dilute the cost of pharmaceutical circulation?

With the adjustment and upgrading of industrial structure and the improvement and development of logistics industry, the proportion of total logistics expenses to GDP in China has been decreasing year by year. However, in comparison, logistics costs are still relatively high, and reducing logistics costs has become the core task of modern logistics development.

Fast circulation of goods and low cost can stimulate more development vitality in the industry. So, how can the logistics industry reduce costs and increase efficiency to achieve production and sales linkage? The direct link model explored by Good Doctor Cloud Medical Innovation has attracted industry attention.

Located in the Good Doctor Cloud Medical Automation Intelligent Warehousing and Logistics Center in Pidu District, the warehouse area covers a total area of 110000 square meters and is divided into multiple independent temperature control zones. It is equipped with IoT temperature and humidity monitoring and a visual central control screen, with automatic sorting robots shuttling back and forth and intelligent conveying equipment busy rotating. Medications are delivered from here to all parts of the country in one stop.

Small procurement volume and high delivery costs are pain points for grassroots medical institutions' shortage of good drugs. We have built a nationwide pharmaceutical supply chain operation system to solve this pain point, "said Su Yazhou, General Manager of Haodafu Cloud Medical. Clinics in remote towns have a relatively low order frequency, and when the single purchase amount is small, delivery costs are usually higher. Haodafu Cloud Medical Service Network has covered more than 670000 grassroots clinics and pharmacies across the country. Through regional density order aggregation, we strive to improve delivery efficiency and reduce unit fulfillment costs.

There are too many circulation links, and layer by layer price increases will inevitably raise the price of drugs. According to Su Yazhou, traditional medicine sales control has multiple intermediate links. Good Doctor Cloud Medical connects the "enterprise platform pharmacy/clinic" direct link through intelligent logistics, which can save up to 50% of pharmaceutical procurement costs. At present, the pharmaceutical supply chain system takes Chengdu warehouse as the national mother warehouse, building a national pharmaceutical circulation hub, covering 31 provincial-level, over 99% county-level, and over 80% township level administrative regions in China.

Chengdu's pharmaceutical manufacturing industry ranks fourth in the country and first in the central and western regions, gathering a group of innovative pharmaceutical companies. A good drug is developed, but if it cannot quickly, safely, and cost effectively reach end patients, its industrial value will be greatly reduced. Su Yazhou said that the pharmaceutical supply chain system aggregates fragmented and sinking market demand into a large-scale order flow, providing upstream pharmaceutical companies with a stable, efficient, and predictable grassroots market export, further improving the pharmaceutical industry chain, and reducing drug circulation costs and operating costs for pharmaceutical companies.

The core value of the logistics industry lies in improving the response speed and resilience of the entire industry chain, promoting industrial development, reducing costs, and increasing efficiency. At present, the Good Doctor Cloud Medical Intelligent Storage Center has gathered more than 600 pharmaceutical companies and tens of thousands of drugs from across the country. Clinics and pharmacies can purchase and place orders through an app, and grassroots medical institutions in remote areas can obtain drug supply at the same price and time as big cities, exploring a path of integrated development in the field of pharmaceutical circulation.

Currently, new generation information technologies such as big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence are accelerating their penetration. The digital transformation, online aggregation, and platform based sharing of logistics resource elements have become important drivers for cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Focusing on scenario driven traction and accelerating the integration of channel network, logistics network, and digital network is another key focus of Chengdu's efforts to reduce costs and increase efficiency in the modern logistics industry.

According to the relevant person in charge of the Modern Logistics Industry Division of the Municipal Port Logistics Office, Chengdu seized the opportunity to deepen the national logistics data opening and interconnection pilot program, cultivated the "smart land port" of the international railway port, industrial Internet logistics collaboration and other scenarios, which were selected as the typical cases of the national logistics data opening and interconnection and the typical cases of the industrial Internet "chain network collaboration", and the relevant experience was promoted in the province.

Innovation stimulates vitality

How can a 'Chengdu made' robot solve the end of service problem?

The new changes in industrial development and the new demand for market services have led to "bottlenecks" in some areas of logistics services, such as the "last 100 meters" problem of express delivery at the end of delivery. In the face of "bottlenecks", it is even more necessary to innovate scenario applications to alleviate them.

In August of this year, the 2026 World Robot Conference will be held in Beijing. Among the "Made in Chengdu" robots showcased on site, an indoor and outdoor integrated self unloading delivery robot used for end of pipe delivery has attracted global attention. Recently, at the headquarters of Yuefan Innovation Company located in Chengdu High tech Zone, the research team saw this "Yuefan Lubao PRO" robot.

As an important component of the modern circulation system, the express delivery industry connects thousands of cities and industries, connects online and offline, and is closely related to the daily lives of citizens. By 2025, the volume of express delivery services in Chengdu will exceed 3.1 billion pieces, with an annual per capita express delivery usage of 147 pieces.

However, there is an awkward problem in the final delivery: the package is delivered to the community but cannot reach the doorstep. Yuefan Lubao has solved the technical problem of integrated indoor and outdoor distribution, "said Jiang Shan, co-founder and production director of Yuefan Innovation. Based on multi-sensor fusion positioning and indoor and outdoor integrated navigation system, Yuefan Lubao can achieve precise positioning, dynamic obstacle avoidance, and autonomous path planning in complex environments such as communities and parks. The biggest breakthrough of the upgraded Lubao PRO is the implementation of automatic unloading - the entire process is unmanned, and if the recipient is not at home, the robot can place the package at their doorstep.

In the future, the end of the express delivery service will definitely be unmanned delivery. Jiangshan said that compared with manual delivery, robot delivery can save 40% of time. Yuefan Lubao PRO has added the last piece of the puzzle for automatic unloading, and the intelligent delivery at the end has achieved unmanned operation from the community entrance to the doorstep, effectively solving the "last 100 meters" problem through innovative application scenarios. At present, these products have been implemented in communities in multiple cities across the country, such as Chengdu, Wuxi, and Shenzhen.

On the innovation track, the modern logistics field in Chengdu has both the "endogenous driving force" of enterprises and the "external attraction" stimulated by cultivation scenarios. Since the beginning of this year, Chengdu has innovatively launched an international train service into the "3+22+N" industrial park, focusing on serving the development needs of Chengdu enterprises and products going out of Sichuan and going global. This has changed from "enterprises looking for trains" to "trains looking for enterprises", promoting deep matching between logistics resources and park needs, and achieving "zero distance" international channel transportation services to serve industrial development.

As of now, Chengdu International Train Service has covered 52 industrial parks, ensuring the transportation needs of more than 230 industrial and trade enterprises, transporting a total of over 35000 TEUs, and providing seamless international logistics services for enterprises to expand their international markets. By the end of this year, Chengdu international train services will cover all industrial parks in the city.

Journalist's Diary

The meridians are unobstructed

Industrial development is more dynamic

A salmon, a box of medicine, and a robot are three concrete examples of the integrated development of Chengdu's modern logistics industry with the consumer, manufacturing, and commercial sectors.

In recent years, Chengdu has accelerated the construction of an international gateway hub, promoting high-quality development through high-level openness. The hub level has gradually improved, creating a favorable environment for the development of modern logistics industry. How to leverage the hub advantages to achieve production and sales linkage and industrial synergy is the "guiding line" in the development of Chengdu's modern logistics industry.

As a fundamental, strategic, and leading industry supporting the development of the national economy, modern logistics is highly integrated and integrates transportation, warehousing, distribution, information and other service functions. It is an important support for extending the industrial chain, enhancing the value chain, and building the supply chain.

From the first overseas service station of the "the Belt and Road" supply chain in China to serve the export of Chengdu products from Sichuan to the sea, to the construction of the "the Belt and Road" import and export commodity distribution center, to create a national distribution center for the import of salmon, durian and other unique single products, to the service cultivation of forming two trillion level industrial clusters of electronic information and equipment manufacturing, as well as hundreds of billion level industrial clusters of biomedicine, new materials, green food, aerospace and other industries, Chengdu's modern logistics industry chain has played a strong support.