China Accelerates Modern Logistics Network Upgrade Under 15th Five-Year Plan to Bolster Economic Circulation

Logistics infrastructure serves as the vital vascular system of the real economy. China’s 15th Five-Year Plan framework has rolled out targeted arrangements for high-standard connectivity of market facilities, prioritising the development of an efficient modern circulation system and the optimisation of the national logistics hub network. According to policy deployments from a Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee meeting held in April this year, China will accelerate the coordinated construction of six major national infrastructure networks, covering water conservancy systems, upgraded power grids, computing facilities, next-generation communication networks, urban underground pipe networks and comprehensive logistics networks. The upgraded logistics network will strengthen industrial adaptability and operational support, provide physical circulation carriers and diversified application scenarios for other infrastructure systems, and elevate the overall efficiency of the country’s modern infrastructure framework.

The systematic development of national logistics networks has become a core underpinning for high-quality economic growth amid China’s modernisation drive. The establishment of a dual-cycle development paradigm has raised higher requirements for logistics efficiency, operational resilience and supply chain controllability. Decades of economic transformation have reshaped factor mobility, industrial supply chain structures and resident consumption patterns, driving China’s logistics sector to evolve from traditional material allocation and point-to-point transportation into systematic supply chain services and global resource distribution. Modern logistics now runs through the entire industrial chain of production, distribution, circulation and consumption, creating incremental industrial value through supply chain optimisation rather than merely cutting operational costs.

Robust logistics network construction delivers tangible support for unimpeded economic circulation. As a comprehensive service system integrating hubs, transport corridors, equipment, standards and data, national logistics infrastructure removes circulation bottlenecks connecting urban and rural markets, domestic and international trade, and regional industrial clusters. Official data shows China’s total social logistics volume reached 368.2 trillion yuan in 2025, with an average annual growth rate of 5.7 percent during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, outpacing overall economic growth. Continuous improvement in logistics operational efficiency has reduced the ratio of total social logistics costs to GDP to 13.9 percent in 2025, expanding profit margins for real economy enterprises.

Improved logistics resilience also underpins industrial and supply chain security amid evolving global economic dynamics. The restructuring of international industrial layouts and rising global uncertainties have highlighted the significance of independent and controllable cross-border logistics channels. Optimised port logistics facilities, expanded overseas distribution nodes and upgraded cross-border logistics capabilities enhance China’s participation in global supply chain governance and support high-level opening-up. Furthermore, extended grassroots logistics networks facilitate urban-rural integrated development, enabling industrial products to penetrate rural markets and agricultural products to reach urban consumption terminals, laying solid circulation foundations for balanced regional development and improved people’s livelihoods.

China has established a comprehensive and layered logistics infrastructure system after years of systematic construction. The country’s world-leading integrated transportation network forms a solid physical foundation for logistics operations, with the main framework of the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network achieving a 91 percent completion rate by the end of 2025, covering over 80 percent of county-level regions. China’s railway operating mileage exceeds 165,000 kilometres, with high-speed railways covering 97 percent of major urban agglomerations with populations above 500,000. Highway mileage has surpassed 5.58 million kilometres, while inland waterways, civil aviation routes and port clusters continue to expand in scale and service coverage.

A multi-tiered national logistics hub system has taken initial shape, featuring 181 national logistics hubs, 105 national cold chain logistics bases and more than 2,700 large-scale logistics parks nationwide. Diversified intermodal transport hubs support over 240 national industrial parks and clustering zones, driving concentrated factor aggregation and coordinated industrial development. China’s logistics market scale maintains global leadership, with daily cargo throughput reaching 160 million tonnes and massive daily parcel processing volume. The expanding fleet of dedicated cargo aircraft and steady growth of China-Europe and Western Land-Sea Corridor freight volumes have greatly enhanced the stability and timeliness of cross-border logistics services. Urban logistics services have upgraded from station-to-station transportation to door-to-door delivery and integrated supply chain solutions, with average express delivery lead times continuously shortened.

Digital and intelligent transformation has become a key growth driver for the domestic logistics industry. China has built 60 automated and semi-automated ports, with intelligent logistics equipment widely deployed across major coastal and inland ports. Large-scale digital upgrading of expressways, waterway electronic mapping and the accelerated application of unmanned delivery vehicles, drones and smart warehousing systems have significantly improved operational precision and scheduling efficiency. Logistics big data and artificial intelligence technologies are penetrating the whole industrial chain, facilitating optimal resource allocation and collaborative operation across the sector.

The country’s logistics network still faces structural bottlenecks restricting high-quality development. Some strategic transport corridors in central and western regions feature single connectivity, while international logistics channels rely heavily on eastern coastal ports, with land passages connecting Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia requiring further optimisation. Insufficient integration between logistics hubs and manufacturing clusters, low railway connection rates at ports and industrial parks, and fragmented trans-shipment links increase overall logistics costs. Inconsistent multi-modal transport standards, incomplete digital data interoperability and uneven intelligent transformation across different regions limit integrated operational efficiency.

Meanwhile, the sector needs further improvements in supply chain resilience and independent innovation capacity. Over-reliance on individual international shipping routes creates vulnerability against geopolitical shocks and natural disasters. Existing emergency logistics systems face constraints in rapid material reserve deployment and end-point distribution efficiency. Core high-end logistics equipment and key software systems still rely on imported technologies, requiring continuous consolidation of independent industrial supply chain capabilities.

Global logistics industries are undergoing profound digital, green and resilient transformation. Leading economies have rolled out targeted strategies to upgrade domestic freight systems, unify cross-regional logistics standards and eliminate circulation barriers. The United States has launched multi-year national freight strategic plans to upgrade infrastructure and strengthen supply chain stability, while the European Union has unified regional logistics policies to promote seamless multi-modal transport and sustainable low-carbon logistics development.

Drawing on global best practices, China will advance systematic logistics network upgrading throughout the 15th Five-Year Plan period to accelerate its transition from a logistics giant to a logistics powerhouse. Future development will focus on hardware connectivity of infrastructure and software interoperability of data and rules to optimise the corridor-hub-network operational system. The country will further integrate logistics hubs with industrial and commercial facilities, strengthen international channel capacity, and improve urban and rural terminal logistics networks to smooth domestic economic circulation.

Continuous digital upgrading will deepen the integration of 5G, Internet of Things and Beidou navigation technologies into logistics scenarios, building intelligent ports, warehouses and transport networks while promoting cross-industry data sharing. The country will scale up multi-modal transport development, popularise integrated electronic documents and unified service standards to reduce institutional transaction costs. Green and low-carbon transformation will be further advanced by adjusting transport structures, expanding new energy logistics equipment application and promoting circular packaging systems to build a sustainable low-carbon logistics ecosystem.

In-depth coordination between the six major infrastructure networks will unlock integrated development potential. Synergies between logistics networks and computing networks will realise mutual iteration between operational data and intelligent algorithms, while collaboration with communication networks supports real-time equipment interconnection and intelligent transportation management. Integrated development with power and water conservancy networks will optimise energy supply and waterway logistics efficiency, forming a multi-dimensional modern infrastructure system with coordinated functions and complementary advantages.