Channels bring logistics, logistics bring economy and trade, and economy and trade bringindustry - there is such a logic between transportation logistics and urbandevelopment.

Thisyear's work report of the municipal government proposes to implement a specialaction to reduce the logistics costs of the whole society, promote the work ofsupplementing and strengthening the national comprehensive freight hub chainwith high standards, and cultivate new advantages of high-level opening up tothe outside world.

As aninternational comprehensive transportation hub city, Qingdao has a uniquelocation advantage of "sea, land, air, and rail" four port linkage,and is an important logistics resource allocation center and logistics activityorganization center in the country. Recently, the National Development andReform Commission issued the "Plan for Optimizing and Adjusting the Layoutof National Logistics Hubs", which, based on the principle of"combining reality, dynamic adjustment, and both progress andretreat", added 26 new national logistics hubs such as Langfang commercialand trade service type and Changzhou production service type, and optimized andadjusted the planning and layout of some national logistics hubs. In this plan,Qingdao's previously approved "four types" (port type, airport type,production service type, and commercial service type) national logistics hubstatus has been further clarified, bringing new opportunities for Qingdao toeffectively reduce the logistics costs of the whole society, gather andintegrate various logistics resources, and promote regional economicdevelopment.

Currently,the opening of the door is getting bigger and bigger. Accelerating theconstruction of a highly accessible and widely covered international logisticscorridor is of great significance for enhancing the level of openness. TheOpinion of the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committeeand the General Office of the State Council on Accelerating the Construction ofa Unified and Open Transportation Market, issued in December 2024, proposes topromote a higher level of opening-up in the transportation sector to theoutside world. Accelerate the construction of an international logistics supplychain system, build diversified international transportation channels, improvethe global transportation service network, and enhance the resilience andsafety level of the logistics supply chain. The 8th Plenary Session of the 12thProvincial Party Committee and the Provincial Party Committee Economic WorkConference, held on December 25, 2024, proposed to focus efforts on building anew highland of high-level opening up to the outside world. Deeply integrateinto the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" and acceleratethe construction of international logistics channels.

Since2024, Qingdao has been supported by seaports, land ports, and airports, withsea and air freight routes and the China Europe freight train corridor as thebackbone, continuously expanding the radiation range and service quality ofinternational logistics channels, attracting more and more international goodsto gather and transfer here.

Thenon-stop air flights, ocean going cargo ships sailing across the sea, the dayand night China Europe freight trains, and the endless "Lu B"trucks... These international logistics channels that reach the world providestrong support for Qingdao to deepen its high-level opening-up advantages,better leverage the gateway function of the northern region to the outsideworld, deeply link global resources, and integrate into the internationalcirculation.

AIR:BUILDING A NORTHERN AIR LOGISTICS TRANSFER CENTER

Not longago, more than 400 kilograms of fresh Chinese mitten crabs were inspected bycustoms officers at Qingdao Jiaodong Airport and transported by air toconsumers' dining tables in Dubai. Since 2024, the company has transported atotal of 88.9 tons of exported hairy crabs through belly cargo on passengerplanes, a 1.7-fold increase compared to 2023, "said Zhang Zengwei,Operations Manager of China Eastern Airlines. Qingdao has a direct passengerroute to Dubai, and the clearance time of hairy crabs is guaranteed, with ahigh survival rate. He is confident in expanding his fresh food business in thefuture.

In theaviation logistics system, the belly compartment of a passenger plane is justone of the ways for goods to "fly" out of the country. At QingdaoJiaodong International Airport, the stable operation of 17 domestic andinternational all cargo routes is building a convenient "air bridge"for Qingdao to "buy globally" and "sell globally".

On theearly morning of January 17th, the Boeing 767 all cargo plane with flightnumber C67685 landed at Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport, marking theofficial opening of the Qingdao Uzbekistan Tashkent Czech Ostrava all cargoflight route. This route is operated by Uzbekistan Central Asia Airlines and isthe first cargo route in Shandong Province to reach central Europe. As animportant industrial hub in Central Europe, Czech Republic's Ostrava hasconvenient transportation, and goods can quickly cover multiple European countriesthrough it. Uzbekistan, as the core node of the joint construction of the"the Belt and Road", connects the markets of Central Asia and Europe,demonstrating strong trade potential. The opening of this route fills the gapof regular cargo routes from Qingdao Airport to Central and Eastern Europe, andbuilds a more convenient cargo channel between Shandong and Europe.

Atpresent, Qingdao Airport's cargo routes connect to domestic and internationaldestinations such as Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Ezhou, as well as Japan, South Korea,the United States, and Canada. Taking the approval of Qingdao as an airporttype national logistics hub as an opportunity, Qingdao Airport has leveragedits advantages of complete port functions and extensive air network coverage.With the goal of connecting routes, covering policies, and distributing goods,it has reached a strategic cooperation with Ezhou Airport to jointly build a"dual hub" for freight transportation. It has opened air to airtransfer routes such as Guiyang Qingdao Incheon, Changsha Qingdao Incheon, andBangkok Zhengzhou Qingdao, providing convenience for fruit imports, expresstransit, and more.

Amongthem, the Qingdao to Toronto freight route is the only regularly operatedCanadian all cargo flight route in northern China, becoming an importantcarrier of the China Canada e-commerce industry chain and supply chain. Atpresent, Toronto's freight routes have increased from 3 to 4 flights per week,with a transportation volume of approximately 23500 tons in 2024.

In 2024,Qingdao Airport achieved a breakthrough of "zero" in the developmentof the fifth freedom cargo route. In May 2024, the Qingdao Osaka United Statesall cargo flight route operated by FedEx will be launched, with one trial runper week. Half a year later, on November 11, 2024, the route will be upgradedto 5 flights per week from Monday to Friday, operated by B777 freighters,departing from Qingdao Airport, stopping in Osaka, Japan, and heading to theMemphis Super Transfer Center in Tennessee, USA. The new international portoperation center of FedEx located at Qingdao Airport has also been put intouse, becoming the fifth international port operation center of FedEx in Chinaafter Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. The transportation time for packagesand heavy goods exported from Qingdao and Shandong to North America has beenshortened by one day compared to the past, and some shipments exported to theUnited States can achieve next day delivery.

In 2024,Qingdao Airport completed a cumulative cargo and mail throughput of 279000tons, an increase of 7% compared to 2023, setting a new historical high sincethe opening of Qingdao Airport. Among them, international cargo volume accountsfor nearly half.

SEAPORT:ACCELERATING PROGRESS TOWARDS AN INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING CENTER

When thefirst ray of sunshine shines into the sea in the early morning, in thesparkling waves, Qingdao Port in Shandong Province has opened a day of endlessthroughput and flow. Made in China from all over the country sets sail fromhere to the world, and goods from around the world land here to enter theChinese market.

In 2024,Qingdao will make efforts to build an international shipping center, and thesea routes of Qingdao Port will continue to expand. More than 10 "the Beltand Road" routes will be added, making it a "sea port" forcountries and regions jointly building the "the Belt and Road". Bythe end of 2024, Qingdao Port's container foreign trade routes have increasedto 230, connecting over 700 ports in more than 180 countries and regionsworldwide. The number of routes ranks first among ports in northern China, andits position as an international shipping hub in Northeast Asia continues toconsolidate. These routes not only cover traditional regions such as Asia, Europe,and North America, but also extend to emerging markets such as South Americaand Africa.

Takingthe new Southeast Asian route jointly opened by Dafei Shipping and COSCOShipping as an example: the route is expected to involve four operating ships,heading south through Singapore Port and directly reaching Malaysia's largestport, Port Klang, providing faster and more stable weekly services for tradebetween China and Southeast Asia.

OnDecember 16, 2024, after completing the loading of over 20000 cubic meters ofgoods such as engineering vehicles, equipment, and steel, the 72000 tonmulti-purpose ship "GREEN NAGOYA" departed from Qingdao Port inShandong Province and finally arrived in Africa, marking the official openingof the China COSCO Shipping Special Express Southeast Africa Express weeklyservice. Qingdao Port has become the only hub port for China COSCO ShippingSpecial Express in northern China.

In thepast, on the Southeast Africa route, cargo ships had to go to multiple portsfor loading and unloading, resulting in longer shipping schedules. The newroute connects Asia with East Africa and South Africa, starting from QingdaoPort, Zhangjiagang, and ending at major African ports such as Dar es Salaam,Mombasa, and Durban, providing point-to-point fast shipping services for theexport of industrial products from Qingdao and even the whole country toAfrica. By creating a "hub port" and "one port loading"model, the entire ship's cargo is concentrated in one port for loading, reducingthe fastest direct sailing time from China to major ports in Southeast Africato 20 days, and delivering goods to customers in about 30 days at the fastest,at least 10 days earlier than before, improving efficiency by more than 30% andsignificantly shortening international trade transportation time. After theopening of the weekly service, based on a cargo volume of 30000 cubic metersper ship, four shipments per month will carry 120000 cubic meters of goods,which is nearly 1.5 million cubic meters per year, becoming a 'maritimehighway' connecting China and Southeast Africa for general cargotransportation, "said Gu Wei dong, Deputy General Manager of COSCOShipping Special Operations.

In 2024,the cargo and container throughput of Qingdao Port will reach 710 million tonsand 30.87 million TEUs respectively, ranking fourth and fifth in the world, andthe international hub port level will continue to improve.

CHINAEUROPE RAILWAY EXPRESS: BECOMING A NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CENTER

As theflagship project of jointly building the "the Belt and Road", theChina Europe Train is known as the "iron and steel camel team" of thenew era. In January of this year, the National Development and ReformCommission issued a document optimizing the layout of 14 national China Europefreight train assembly centers nationwide. The National China Europe freighttrain (Jiqing) assembly center was successfully approved, and Jinan and Qingdaowill jointly build the National China Europe freight train assembly center.

In 2024,the number of China Europe freight trains in Qingdao exceeded 1000 for thefirst time, with a total of 1017 trains, a year-on-year increase of 17.8%,setting a new historical high. Over the past year, Qingdao has focused on"channels, hubs, and networks" and explored innovative transportationroutes and modes for the China Europe freight train, opening a new route fromTongjiang, Heilongjiang to Moscow, Russia; Launch the first BX1K railwayrefrigerated dedicated train set in Shandong Province, providing logisticssolutions for fresh food import and export enterprises in the province; Highquality routes such as the SCO Express Line, Japan Korea Land Sea Express Line,as well as cross sea trains, Lujiang trains, and China Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistanintermodal trains, have been normalized to efficiently ensure the stable andsmooth operation of the international supply chain industry chain. Compared toother modes of transportation, transit goods from South Korea, Japan, andSoutheast Asia are first transferred to the SCO demonstration zone afterarriving at Qingdao Port, and then transported to Central Asian countries byChina Europe freight trains, which can significantly save transportation timeand logistics costs, "said Lu Shu sheng, manager of Qingdao Ocean DayaLogistics Co., Ltd.

On January1st, a China Europe freight train loaded with automotive parts, mechanicalequipment, and other goods departed from the Shanghai Cooperation DemonstrationZone Multimodal Transport Center, marking the beginning of the new year's ChinaEurope freight train transportation in Qingdao. On the first day of the ChineseNew Year on January 29, the first supply chain special train of Shandong ChinaEurope Express in the Spring of the Snake Year was loaded with 110 standardcontainer goods such as tire molds and plastic pallets from Linglong Group,sent from the multimodal transport center of the Shanghai CooperationDemonstration Zone (China Railway Container Qingdao Central Station), left thecountry via the port of Khorgos, crossed the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, andwas expected to arrive at the Serbian assembly center of Shandong China EuropeExpress in 35 days... Since this year, the operation of Qingdao China EuropeExpress has continued to be popular, and has continued to open a new logisticsand trade channel for SCO and countries jointly building the "the Belt andRoad".

Atpresent, Qingdao China Europe regular train runs 32 international and domesticroutes, reaches 23 SCO and 54 cities in the "the Belt and Road"countries, and builds an international logistics channel connecting Japan andSouth Korea in the east, Eurasia in the west, Mongolia and Russia in the north,and ASEAN in the south.

Takingthe opportunity of being selected as a member of the "national team"for the China Europe freight train assembly center, Qingdao will leverage itsland sea linkage advantages with Jinan, accelerate the construction of a"hub to hub" pattern with assembly centers in cities along the YellowRiver such as Zhengzhou and Xi'an, and promote the construction of a new landsea trade channel in the Yellow River Basin facing the Shanghai CooperationOrganization and radiating to the Asia Pacific region. By 2025, the number ofChina Europe freight trains will strive to reach 1100.

INTERNATIONALROAD TRANSPORT: TIR AND GMS FLY TOGETHER

Inaddition to aviation, ports, and railways, there is also a point-to-pointdirect "fourth logistics channel" - international roadtransportation.

As asegmented market of international road transportation, TIR (International RoadTransport System) and GMS (Greater Mekong Subregion Economic CooperationMechanism) are important ways to promote international transportation and tradefacilitation. By simplifying customs clearance procedures and improvingclearance efficiency, they provide convenience for enterprises to carry outcross-border transportation.

In 2024,Qingdao continues to expand its international road transportation channels,reaching Russia and Central Asia in Europe through TIR and Southeast Asiathrough GMS, forming a good development trend of "two wings flyingtogether" and injecting new vitality into the expansion of internationallogistics channels.

In 2023,Qingdao will open its first TIR China Russia express line. After a year ofmarket cultivation, Qingdao's TIR business has rapidly gained momentum, withthe "China Russia Express" shipping volume maintaining a leadingposition in the country and the channel path continuously expanding. OnDecember 13, 2024, the TIR international road transport route from Qingdao toKazakhstan was opened, which is the third TIR transport route after the"China Russia" and "China Kyrgyzstan Ukraine" routes. Onthat day, a TIR transport vehicle loaded with more than 20 tons of frozenfruits from Shandong province, operated by Qingdao Hongyu Logistics Co., Ltd.,sounded its horn and set off across the land of China. The entire journey was"one truck to the end", without inversion or unloading. It left thecountry through the Baktu Port in Xinjiang, crossed about 6500 kilometers, andarrived directly in Astana, Kazakhstan. These fruits have appeared onsupermarket shelves in Central Asia and even European countries, providinglocal consumers with a new choice to taste Chinese flavors.

In thefield of GMS international road transportation, Qingdao has taken the lead. InNovember and December 2024, Qingdao successively opened three new GMSinternational road transportation routes to Bangkok, Thailand, Hanoi, Vietnam,and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Among them, the Phnom Penh route in Cambodia isoperated by Chengyun Holdings Group, and it is the first time that astate-owned enterprise's "Lu B" train has directly reached SoutheastAsia. This route has opened up a new cross-border point-to-point transportationchannel for local enterprises. We will take this opportunity to activelyparticipate in the construction of the Qingdao International Logistics Channeland contribute state-owned enterprise strength to building an open city inQingdao, "said Lv Chuanxin, Chairman of Qingdao Chengyun Modern LogisticsGroup Co., Ltd.

Themotor roars and the goods flow smoothly. At this moment, the network ofinternational road transportation in Qingdao is stretching and extending alongthe criss crossing highways with vigorous vitality, intricately weaving anetwork of international interconnectivity. A series of "Lu B" truckscontinue to move forward, painting vibrant maps of smooth logistics andeconomic and trade cooperation.