In the logistics industry over the past month, the activities have been more frequent than many people expected.
The iron-hauling intermodal train service of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor has exceeded 1 million TEUs in volume this year. Recently, 12 departments jointly issued a document to push multimodal transportation into a critical period, and the new round of one-billion-yuan subsidies for national comprehensive freight hubs has also entered the application process. Behind these changes lies a common thread: reducing the overall logistics costs of society.
For logistics enterprises and practitioners, this is not only the direction of the industry's development, but also an opportunity that cannot be missed. To have face-to-face communication about the new policies of multimodal transportation, to connect with ports, railways, cross-border logistics, smart warehousing, and green transportation resources upstream and downstream, the 3rd Shanghai Asia Logistics Expo in 2027 is an excellent platform.
Let's look at the data. On October 6th, the container transportation volume of the Western Land-Sea New Passage iron-hauling train in 2026 officially exceeded 1 million TEUs. The capacity for maintaining smooth operation of the passage has continued to increase. The outbound container trains from Chongqing to Qinzhou Port have seen particularly significant growth.
On October 1st, the Beibu Gulf Port opened a new iron-hauling route directly connecting Guinea's bauxite mines to Chongqing. It innovatively established an intermodal transportation model involving overseas mines, the Beibu Gulf Port, and direct rail transportation to Chongqing. Compared to the traditional river-sea intermodal transportation along the Yangtze River, the overall transportation time has been shortened by approximately 25 days.
Cross-border logistics is also accelerating. The cross-border e-commerce exports from the Shanghai port exceeded 100 billion yuan this year, maintaining double-digit growth for eight consecutive months. The customs has embedded supervision into the enterprise's warehousing and logistics processes. Most goods have achieved seamless customs clearance, and the average logistics time has been shortened by 30%.
In the global market, the peak season for freight transportation has been extended. The combined demand for AI and semiconductors, along with the backlog of typhoons, port congestion, and the reduction in transportation capacity during the National Day holiday, has led to continuous tightness in air and sea transportation capacity, providing support for freight rates.
Recently, three significant documents have been issued one after another, forming the top-level framework for the upgrading of the logistics industry:
On September 29th, the Ministry of Transport, in conjunction with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and 12 other departments, issued the "Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of Multimodal Transport and Optimizing the Transportation Structure (2026-2030)". The core objective is to enhance the multimodal transport capabilities of approximately 1,000 major freight nodes by 2030, and to basically establish a national multimodal transport infrastructure system consisting of "comprehensive freight corridors + key hub nodes + full coverage networks". This is the most high-profile document in the field of multimodal transport this year, focusing on addressing issues such as low proportion of railway access to ports and parks, information silos, and inconsistent standards.
Looking further back, in late August, with the approval of the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Transport jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for Logistics Network Construction", which is the first implementation plan for the six networks, deploying 7 aspects and 17 key tasks, and clearly stating that by 2030, the ratio of social logistics costs to GDP will be reduced to 13.1%.
Starting from September 1st, the ten departments jointly issued the "Regulations on Promoting and Regulating the Application of Electronic Documents", which came into effect. The promotion and application of electronic documents in goods trade and transportation have gained a clear basis, and the digitalization of freight transportation has taken another step forward.
When these documents are viewed together, the policy framework is very clear: the main line is to reduce the logistics costs of the entire society, the handle is multimodal transport and the optimization of the transportation structure, the path is to accelerate the conversion from road to rail and road to water for long-distance freight transportation, and the supporting measures are hub construction, digitalization, and greenification.
Apart from policies, substantial financial support is also in place. The most notable aspect is the new round of national comprehensive freight hub reinforcement and upgrading initiative. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport issued a notice (Cai Jian [2026] No. 62) in March this year, stipulating that starting from 2026 and over a period of about three years, 30 or so cities (clusters) will be given concentrated support.
The subsidy funds are allocated based on a certain percentage of the approved investment amount by the Ministry of Transport. The upper limit of the subsidy for each provincial city (cluster) within the first year is 500 million yuan, and for cross-provincial joint urban clusters, it is controlled at 700 million yuan. In total, each city or provincial joint urban cluster is generally not more than 1500 million yuan, and cross-provincial joint urban clusters are not more than 2000 million yuan. The subsidy ratio for individual projects in the eastern, central, and western regions does not exceed 40%, 50%, and 60% of the approved investment amount respectively.
From the perspective of the application logic, multimodal transportation, conversion from road to rail and water, green and low-carbon, equipment renewal, and informatization are the areas with the most concentrated subsidies. If your enterprise is investing in hub construction, park development, or transportation equipment upgrade projects, you can prepare the materials as early as possible according to the application conditions. The window period and the upper limit of the amount determine that those who prepare first are more likely to receive the subsidy.
The policy benefits are right in front of us, and enterprises and logistics professionals need to make preparations in advance:
For enterprises: Reorganize the business structure, explore multimodal transportation, green transportation, and digital scenarios in the business; closely monitor the windows for various subsidy applications, prepare project materials in advance, and seize the policy benefits.
For logistics professionals:The industry is accelerating towards standardization and scale, professional qualification certificates have gradually become a hard threshold for bidding, compliance, job promotion, etc., enhance professional capabilities to meet the demands of industrial upgrading.
Under the wave of industry transformation, enterprises not only need to understand policies and apply for subsidies, but also need to face-to-face connect with upstream and downstream resources, find transportation partners, observe the cutting-edge solutions of multimodal transportation, cross-border logistics, and smart logistics.
The 3rd Shanghai Asian Logistics Expo 2027 will be held at the Shanghai World Trade Exhibition Center from March 15th to 16th, 2027. The exhibition is based in the Yangtze River Delta region, serves the entire country, and connects with the world. It focuses on international rail services, multimodal transportation, cross-border e-commerce logistics, overseas warehouses, AI intelligent logistics, and the full chain supply chain of sea, land, air and rail. It will gather 300 industry brands and invite 15,000 professional visitors from home and abroad. In addition, it will also host industry forums, policy interpretation sessions, and precise supply-demand matchmaking events, providing a one-stop platform for resource connection, technical exchange, and business negotiation.
Here, you can：
✔ In-depth discussion on multimodal transport and integrated freight hub policies
✔ Direct interaction with railway, port, maritime, air transport, cross-border freight forwarding, and overseas warehouse service providers
✔ Observation of green transportation capacity and intelligent logistics digital solutions
✔ Meeting global logistics peers, exploring new projects and new cooperation opportunities for transportation capacity and logistics services.
From top-level national policies to the implementation of local subsidies; the logistics industry is now experiencing structural opportunities. To understand the trend, seize the subsidy window period, and secure an industry communication platform, one can gain an advantage in the wave of industrial upgrading.
📅Exhibition Information
Exhibition Name: The 3rd Shanghai Asian Logistics Expo 2027
Date: March 15th - 16th, 2027
Location: Shanghai World Trade Exhibition Hall
Theme: Uniting Land, Sea, Air and Rail, Serving Global Trade