Chongqing was officially selected for the list of cities to build national logistics hubs in 2020 and approved of the construction of inland port-based national logistics hubs on October 29.

On October 29, Chongqing was officially selected for the list of cities to build national logistics hubs in 2020 and approved of the construction of inland port-based national logistics hubs.

Chongqing International Logistics Hub Park and Jiangjin Industrial Park Luohuang Group, covering an area of 15.95 square kilometre in total, serving as departure points and termini of China Railway Express (Yuxinou) and New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC). They were approved as inland port-based national logistics hubs, which is conducive for the better connection of the "Belt" and the "Road", helping Chongqing to build an exemplary city of opening-up in inland China and international logistics hubs.

"The approval for the construction of inland-port-based national logistics hubs is of great significance to Chongqing," said Chuanjiang Ba, Director of the Port and Logistics Office of Chongqing Municipal People's Government.

Ba introduced that Chongqing is actively building an inland international multimodal transport centre. Obtaining the approval enables the city to further increase the scale and efficiency of multimodal transport in such modes as "rail + sea", "rail + rail", "rail + water" and "rail + air", and improve the inland modern logistics backbone network.

Through Integrating China Railway Express (Yuxinou), ILSTC, Yangtze River Golden Waterway and other trunk channels, the city will form an efficient operation system featuring "channel + hub + network".

Ba added that Chongqing had been approved as the Centre of the China Railway Express in July, so the approval for the construction of inland-port-based national logistics hubs gave the city a dual advantage. 

The dual approval can further strengthen the city's status in terms of logistics hubs in the country and even the entire Eurasia, build a modern logistics operation system based on "channel + hub + network" for Chongqing and provide strong support for the establishment of a "dual circulation" development pattern. He concluded that the domestic economic cycle plays a leading role while the international economic cycle can remain as its extension and supplement.

According to Hongbing Hu, Deputy Director of the Port and Logistics Office of Chongqing Municipal People's Government, Chongqing will improve the construction of hubs. Moreover, the city will actively strive for capacity expansion and upgrading, and enhance the modern logistics function of the hubs through such means as stepping up its efforts to implement major projects.

Additionally, in accordance with the requirements of the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Transport, Chongqing is going to strengthen inter-departmental collaboration and policy coordination to speed up the construction of national logistics hubs and create a favorable environment for the construction and operation of these hubs.