Inland No More: Smart Factories, Freight Corridors, and Industrial Chains Push Southwest China Worldwide

Chongqing - In Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, several inland districts are trying to show that distance from the coast is no longer the only factor determining access to global markets.

During a visit on April 23-24 by the "Vibrant Chongqing" media group, officials and executives in Ba'nan, Bishan, Jiulongpo, and Jiangjin described how road logistics, bonded warehousing, automotive supply chains, advanced materials, and export-oriented consumer products are being connected through the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC).

GMS direct truck model enables seamless cross-border logistics

Ba'nan District, a typical inland urban area that is neither coastal nor located on a national border, has become one of the key examples. 

At the Nanpeng Road Bonded Logistics Center, trucks loaded with Chongqing-made electronic products, motorcycle parts, and auto components were preparing to depart for Southeast Asia.

A representative of Chongqing Highway Logistics Base Construction Co. said the area's transport position is one of its main advantages. "From the park to Jiangbei International Airport, Guoyuan Port, and the railway port, all are within a 45-minute drive,” the representative said.

That location supports the operations of Chongqing Gongyun ASEAN International Logistics Co., which runs cross-border road shuttle services. Luo Qingyi, the company's deputy general manager, said that in 2025, cross-border road shuttles under the ILSTC operated 12,555 trips, carrying goods worth 17.42 billion yuan (about 2.55 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 306%.

"Many people used to believe that cross-border road transport over 800 kilometers had no cost advantage, with small volume and high costs. But our data show the market's choice," Luo said.

She said time-sensitive goods such as laptops, intermediate products, and core auto parts are increasingly being transported by road to reach Southeast Asian factories. 

"If goods go by traditional river-sea intermodal transport, it takes about half a month to 20 days. Rail is faster, but there can be a waiting time during transfer. Our cross-border road shuttle can go directly from a Chongqing factory to the gate of a Vietnamese factory in three to five days," Luo said.

The company has also used the GMS direct truck model, under which approved vehicles can travel across parts of the Greater Mekong Subregion without changing containers or trucks. 

"Under current instability in international supply chains, what companies fear most is supply interruption," Luo said. "We can dispatch at any time. That is the core competitiveness."

The road logistics network now covers 3 directions, 12 routes, 25 ports, and 39 overseas distribution warehouses, with services extending beyond Southeast Asia to Central Asia and South Asia.

JD Logistics to enable direct air imports of live seafood

At JD Logistics' Asia No. 1 Chongqing Smart Industrial Park in Ba'nan, warehouse robots move shelves to picking stations. A warehouse manager said the operating model has changed: "In the past, people looked for goods. Now goods look for people."

A JD representative said the park is JD's only and largest Asia No. 1 warehouse in Chongqing. Since JD entered Ba'nan in 2013, it has established five local entities. The representative said 90% of self-operated goods bought by Chongqing consumers on JD can now be delivered directly from the park.

Food distribution is another part of the same logistics strategy. At Chongqing Xinfadi ASEAN International Food Industrial Park, operated by Chongqing Xinfadi ASEAN Agricultural Products Co., general manager Wu Zhiyuan said the project has a total investment of 12 billion yuan and covers 1,950 mu (about 130 hectares).

Wu said the park will include 12 major functions, eight supporting systems, full-temperature-zone cold-chain warehouses, and a large live seafood holding center. "In the future, live crabs and shrimp from Southeast Asia can arrive by charter flight, go directly into our holding pools, and then be distributed across southwest China," he said.

Company officials said the project, expected to open this year, could reduce Chongqing's agricultural product price index by about 15% through direct sourcing, fewer intermediate links, and energy management in a low-carbon park.

Logistics reforms are also being used to reduce costs for foreign trade companies. At Ba'nan's bonded logistics center, officials said a pilot classified supervision system allows bonded and non-bonded goods to be consolidated in the same warehouse and shipped on the same vehicle. Officials said the reform can shorten consolidation time by one to two days.

Factory uses unmanned line to supply Tesla components

In Bishan District of Southwest China’s Chongqing municipality, Landai Technology operates an automated production line manufacturing coaxial reducer planetary gears supplied to Tesla.

Company officials said the line has achieved unmanned operation from loading to unloading, packaging, and warehousing, with only 11 workers in the workshop, mainly for testing and packaging.

Landai also produces high-precision transmission gear shafts for new energy vehicles and has entered the robot joint module sector. In its clean workshop, small gears with an inner diameter of 3 millimeters are formed in one process by compound machining equipment.

Nearby, Tsingshan Industry operates a 5G-covered digital factory that has produced more than 4.6 million automatic transmissions. The company said its production cycle has been reduced from 35 seconds per unit last year to 32 seconds. 

In 2025, new energy products accounted for 62.2% of sales volume and 55.7% of revenue. The company has entered the international supply chains of Volkswagen and Ford and has an annual capacity for 2.65 million traditional fuel vehicle transmissions, hybrid transmissions, and electric drive assemblies.

Bishan officials said the district's intelligent connected new energy vehicle industry has reached 64 billion yuan in scale and the district is also moving into embodied intelligence and the low-altitude economy.

In Jiulongpo District, Chongqing Dicastal Jieli Wheel Manufacturing Co. reported sales of 9 million aluminum alloy wheel hubs in 2025 and revenue of more than 2.7 billion yuan. General manager Cao Ping said the company serves more than 30 automakers, including Changan and Seres, and that more than half of its customers are new energy vehicle companies.

"The environment for innovation and entrepreneurship is very good," Cao said. He added that the parent CITIC Dicastal Group has more than 35% of the global market share, with markets in Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa.

At Southwest Aluminum, deputy general manager Ran Jilong said first-quarter production and sales reached 175,000 tons. "February and March both created historical highs. The growth in production and sales was 9.3%," Ran said.

The company displayed an aluminum alloy precision forging used in the C919 passenger aircraft window. The part weighs 1.5 kilograms, has a web thickness of 3.5 millimeters, and must meet dimensional tolerance requirements of +0.8/-0.2 millimeters. Company officials said only two companies globally can produce this type of aircraft passenger observation window, and Southwest Aluminum is one of them.

In Jiangjin District, the International Logistics Hub Exhibition Center outlined the layout of the Chongqing Hub Port Industrial Park and its role in the ILSTC. 

Yuan Li, director of the Administrative Committee of Chongqing Jiangjin Comprehensive Bonded Area, said the park focuses on three major industries: advanced complete equipment, advanced materials, and modern logistics and supply chain services. He said its transport links allow goods to reach the sea in two days through rail-sea intermodal services, arrive in ASEAN markets in five days by international rail, and reach Europe in 12 days.

Nearby, InMotion was loading export orders for high-end electric scooters. General manager Jiang Hongliang said one shipment totaled 3,735 units, including goods bound for Poland, Moldova, and Ireland. The company's products are mainly sold to the United States, Europe, Russia, Canada, South America and Australia, and its high-end electric scooter market share has entered the global top five, according to the company.

"Our company will develop toward electric motorcycles in the future," Jiang said. "Chongqing's electric motorcycle industrial chain and parts supply are relatively the best in the country. Relying on the nearby Xiaonanya hub port, future shipments to Europe or Russia may have shorter routes or lower transport costs."