Railway Freight Carry out New Model of Freight Transport

In the past, the “iron boss” put down his frame, not only caused changes in the railway freight market, but also affected the freight structure in China, and it also gave birth to a new model of road transport.

■ Railway freight reform promotes changes in freight structure At present, China’s road transport bears more than 75% of freight, and is an important force in providing transportation guarantees for the national economy and social development. As the road freight industry is flexible and adaptable, and the speed of short and medium-distance transportation is high, it has the characteristics of “door-to-door” direct transportation and so on, so that road freight has its absolute level of traffic or its share of the total social freight transport. important position.

Experts believe that the advancement of the railway freight reform will have a great impact on road transport, because the amount of freight on the transport trunks will decrease, and the railway will share part of the freight volume of the highway. However, this will be a long process, because the railway sector has a lot of work to do to sort out various relationships.

Zhang Xiaodong, a professor at the Beijing Jiaotong University School of Transportation, said that "door-to-door" transportation is not a long-term item of rail freight. The reform of railway freight transportation may cause more road freight to be transported to short-distance transport, the railways undertake long-distance transport, and the end-to-end delivery is still completed by roads.

However, the rise in high oil prices and labor costs will bring down the competitiveness of road freight and increase the cost of road freight. In addition, the safety of road freight is low, the structure of the vehicles is irrational, and the facilities and facilities of highway freight yards are simple and the transportation efficiency is low. There is a lack of large-scale transportation companies that dominate the road transport market, and it is difficult to organize large-scale and networked transportation. These factors all affect the further development of road freight, and the proportion of road freight in the transport of goods may decline. Logistics experts believe that in the future, China's freight structure will change, and rail freight and air cargo will have greater development, and the proportion of road freight in the freight structure will decline. However, it will still dominate. Comprehensive transport, multimodal transport and other modes of transport will be combined organically, and transport efficiency will be improved.

â–  The cooperation and win-win situation of rail freight transportation In the past, the railway transportation capacity was insufficient. Although the development of road transport was promoted, especially the development of long-distance highway transportation, the transport of more than 1,000 kilometers was not the specialty of road freight, and its economic benefits were not optimal. It is not a long-term plan to replace long-distance freight transported by railways.

Zhang Xiaodong stated that in terms of transportation, the same goods are destined for the same city. Compared with road transport, the logistics price of railway transportation will be even lower, which in turn will increase the price reduction space. Consumers will eventually benefit from this.

The reporter learned that, in addition to speed and price advantages, railway freight transport will also introduce a "door-to-door" mode of transportation, extending the services through rail transport of goods, that is, transporting goods from the factory to the railway freight station, through the railway. After delivery to the terminal, the goods will be transported to the destination designated by the consignee by other modes of transport. The entire transportation link is served by the railway department. It is different from the "station-to-station" service in traditional freight transportation, breaking the monotony and limitations of the original railway freight, and making the railway's transportation process completely connected.

Zhang Xiaodong believes that the impact of railway reform on road transport should be emphasized and business opportunities should be studied. The relationship between railroad traditional freight yard station facilities and road freight will be closer, and the resources of road transport companies and railway freight yards will be further integrated.

The market relationship between roads and railways should be a combination of competition and cooperation. Long-distance transportation in railways has advantages, and there are advantages in short-distance transportation on highways.

Zhang Xiaodong suggested that the road transport company can cooperate with the railway department to achieve complementary resources, and refer to the US logistics industry model. In the same logistics gathering area, there are various modes of transportation for aviation, highways, and railways.

â–  Create a new model of road transport With the changes in the relationship between supply and demand for transport capacity and the advancement of railway freight reform, rail freight will invade the volume of long-distance trunk transportation, and at the same time, it will prompt changes in the business model of the freight industry.

Experts believe that road freight itself is also facing difficulties. In the past two years, due to the impact of the overall economic environment, some road transport companies have begun to withdraw. After the reform of the railway freight system, the original logistics enterprises with small business volume, high cost, and long operating period will also withdraw from the market. In particular, some enterprises engaged in the transportation of coal, steel products, rare earths and other goods have been hit harder, and the new round of industrial washing The card is inevitable.

If the road logistics industry wants to improve its competitiveness, it is not feasible to reduce prices. Ma Zengrong, secretary-general of the Logistics Equipment Professional Committee of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, said that rising labor costs are eroding road transport profits. The profit of the entire road transportation is about 9%, of which the labor cost is about 15%. According to the rising level of current labor costs, there will be little profit in three to five years.

Ma Zengrong suggested that road freight companies should open up new market routes, try to misalign with rail freight, and seek new modes of transportation. For example, highways can return to short-distance transport, multimodal transport, trunk alliances, and node allocation services that rely on railway freight networks.

“Road transport vehicles must also be professionalized to increase their cost-effectiveness, and at the same time be more energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, and safe. Vehicle manufacturers should also pay attention to the development and changes in the freight market, increase investment and research,” said Ma Zengrong.