Text/Reporter Wang Zifei
Recently, the State Council issued the "Action Plan for Promoting Large-scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Trade-in" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which requires "vigorously promoting the renewal and technological transformation of production equipment, energy-using equipment, power generation, transmission and distribution equipment", and puts forward the goal of "by 2027, the scale of equipment investment in industry, agriculture, construction, transportation, education, cultural tourism, medical care and other fields will increase by more than 25% compared with 2023". According to preliminary estimates, equipment renewal is a huge market with an annual scale of more than 5 trillion yuan, which will inevitably bring huge demand for large-scale logistics.
This brings significant benefits to large-scale logistics companies, and the other side of the coin is also a new challenge. In order to better serve the renewal of equipment and help related industries accelerate the cultivation and development of new quality productivity, large-scale logistics enterprises also need to join hands with all parties to form a joint force to solve the deep-seated problems in the field of large-scale logistics.
Equipment renewal drives the demand for large-scale logistics
The "Plan" clarifies that the key direction of equipment renewal is high-end, intelligent, green and safe. The promulgation of the "Plan" reflects the great importance that the state attaches to the renewal of equipment in the industrial field. It is understood that large-scale equipment renewal is mainly concentrated in the industrial field, focusing on steel, nonferrous metals, petrochemicals, chemicals, building materials, electric power, machinery, aviation, shipbuilding, textile, electronics and other key industries, and vigorously promote the renewal and technological transformation of production equipment, energy-using equipment, power generation, transmission and distribution equipment. In addition, since the beginning of 2024, various localities have successively issued a list of major projects to solidly promote infrastructure construction, and the transportation and energy fields are still the focus of efforts.
"For the upgrading of equipment in these fields, such as large-scale industrial machine tools, intelligent manufacturing equipment, power equipment, transportation equipment, etc., it is bound to drive the demand for large-scale transportation. On April 7, Zhang Mingdong, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of CRRC Logistics Co., Ltd., in an interview with a reporter from China Logistics and Purchasing magazine, believed that the first is to increase the shipment of new equipment, and the second is to produce the volume of old equipment returned to the factory or scrapped transportation, especially the volume of large-scale transportation will increase exponentially. "If the demand for large-scale transportation is estimated according to 5% of 5 trillion yuan, the annual scale is about 250 billion yuan. ”
Taking wind power as an example, according to the estimates of the China Electricity Council, by 2025, the average annual installed capacity of wind power in the country will not be less than 60 million kilowatts, and 20,000 new installed units will be required based on the calculation of 3 megawatt wind turbines, the main model of onshore wind power. According to the calculation that a 3 MW wind turbine needs to be transported by 8 large vehicles, 160,000 large logistics needs will be generated in a year.
"The renewal of equipment has a very positive effect on large-scale logistics. Transporting new equipment is forward logistics, while reverse logistics is shipping back obsolete old equipment, and the demand is doubled. On April 9, Guo Lixin, vice president of the Bulky Logistics and Supply Chain Branch of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, said in an interview with a reporter from China Logistics and Purchasing magazine that a large number of large-scale logistics needs have been generated in the large-scale equipment renewal of the forward and negative fronts.
At the same time, with the continuous improvement of the policy environment, the competent departments of large-scale transportation at all levels have put the safety management of large-scale transportation in the first place, and strengthened the supervision of the whole chain and the whole field of large-scale transportation from the place of supply to the place of delivery, before, during, and after the event. "Work together to take a variety of measures to continuously optimize the large-scale transportation permit service, improve the efficiency of approval, improve the business environment of the large-scale logistics industry, and improve the satisfaction and sense of identity of enterprises with the approval work. Zhang Mingdong pointed out that with the continuous adjustment of national policies, the implementation of domestic circulation and equipment renewal policies, the volume of large shipments continues to grow, and the industry ushers in new opportunities for development.
Promote the transformation and upgrading of the industry
In recent years, thanks to the rapid development of the equipment manufacturing industry and the accelerated growth rate of infrastructure investment such as power and transportation, the demand for transportation of large products has increased rapidly. Under the new situation, with the in-depth promotion of equipment renewal, the benefits to large-scale transportation enterprises are gradually emerging.
On April 7, Xu Feng, director and general manager of Sichuan Oriental Logistics Group Co., Ltd., in an interview with the reporter of China Logistics and Procurement magazine, believed that the benefits for large logistics enterprises are mainly reflected in four aspects: first, as the weight and size of the equipment are getting larger and larger, then the requirements for transportation and lifting equipment are getting higher and higher, and the iterative update of equipment is inevitable. Rebates or concessions in fuel costs and other aspects help to reduce investment costs and help drive enterprise investment willingness and decision-making. Second, the new performance after iterative updates will help improve the competitiveness of enterprises. Third, for the first trial equipment update enterprises, the competition is relatively mild, which is conducive to the efficiency of the enterprise and plays a catalytic role in the equipment renewal of the enterprise. Fourth, with the arrival of new equipment, new knowledge and new technologies are needed, which brings new opportunities and needs for the cultivation of enterprise-related talents.
"The biggest positive is directly reflected in the increase in revenue of logistics companies. In the past few years, affected by the epidemic, petrochemical, energy, metallurgy and other large-scale projects have been suspended, resulting in insufficient operation of manufacturing enterprises and low demand for large-scale logistics. Guo Lixin said that in recent years, the income of large-scale logistics enterprises has generally declined, if large-scale equipment updates in the key services and areas of concern of large-scale logistics enterprises, then it will bring a large number of logistics demand, and the income of logistics enterprises will also increase, further turning losses into profits.
While the iterative update of equipment brings benefits to enterprises, challenges and pressures also follow. Zhang Mingdong said frankly that the current difficulties are reflected in three aspects: First, the pressure on rising costs is increasing. Bulky transportation involves a combination of multiple modes of transportation, and its cost is affected by many factors such as oil prices, labor, equipment, taxes and fees. In recent years, due to the fluctuation of international oil prices, the tightening of environmental protection policies, the shortage of human resources and other reasons, the cost of large-scale transportation enterprises has been rising, and profits have been under pressure.
The second is to put forward higher requirements for safety management and risk prevention capabilities. Due to the characteristics of large weight, large volume and complex shape, there is a high safety risk in the transportation process. Once an accident occurs, it will not only cause loss of goods and customer complaints, but also may trigger traffic congestion and the negative impact of social opinion. Therefore, large-scale transportation enterprises need to strengthen safety management and risk prevention, and improve emergency response capabilities.
Third, the pressure on environmental protection is increasing. Large-scale transportation mainly relies on road transportation, which is more polluting to the environment. With the country's increasing emphasis on environmental protection, large-scale transportation enterprises need to comply with stricter environmental protection standards and norms, and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of energy conservation, emission reduction and green logistics.
The deep-seated contradictions need to be resolved urgently
In order to effectively enjoy the dividends of the rapid growth of large-scale transportation demand brought by the policy, large-scale transportation enterprises not only need to continuously improve their service capabilities, strengthen safety management and risk prevention levels, but also need the active participation and cooperation of the government, enterprises and all parties in society to further optimize the large-scale transportation management system.
Guo Lixin told the reporter of "China Logistics and Procurement" magazine that the evaluation standards and specifications of the traffic capacity of roads and bridges around the country are still facing inconsistencies, different license approval regulations, different regulatory and law enforcement standards, and many other problems such as the shortage of funds and personnel of the approval departments for large-scale transportation at all levels, which have exacerbated the demands of enterprises to optimize the license approval process and improve the efficiency of approval, and the deep contradiction between the transportation authorities to ensure the compliance and safe transportation of large items.
"From the enterprise level, we hope that the first is to solve the interconnection of the nationwide traffic road system and realize the interconnection of the whole network inside and outside the province; Zhang Mingdong pointed out.
Guo Lixin suggested that based on the current domestic transportation infrastructure, through conditions, combined with the construction of large-scale equipment projects and the layout of manufacturing enterprises, through big data analysis system research and judgment, the establishment of inter-provincial transportation channels for large items, each province is connected to each other, to the greatest extent to cover manufacturing enterprises, to meet the needs of cross-regional construction. Advanced intelligent means are used to form a rapid evaluation model for the grade and passing capacity of the channel, and an intelligent planning system for large-scale transportation is established.
In addition, Xu Feng proposed that he hoped that the country would attach great importance to the training of practical, craftsman and technical talents in various colleges and universities in various colleges and universities in the future, and that new equipment and new technologies would require a lot of manpower to support. Continue to cultivate and export professional and technical talents in the large-scale transportation industry, and promote the continuous improvement of the professional level of the large-scale transportation industry. At the same time, we will continue to study the feasibility of shifting road transport to railway and waterway transport, and vigorously promote the pilot of large-scale logistics road-water and road-rail combined transport, so as to reduce the pressure on road transport and help structurally reduce logistics costs. (This article was published on the cover feature of China Logistics & Purchasing Magazine Issue 8, 2024)