With the rapid development of the Internet economy and the logistics industry, digital freight came into being. These freight versions of the taxi software accurately match the "goods" with the "cars", solving the problems caused by the asymmetry of logistics information, such as empty capacity and drivers waiting for goods for a long time. In recent years, driven by informatization and intelligent technology and supported by modern logistics-related policies, the development of digital freight has accelerated and entered the "new blue ocean".
According to data released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, the scale of China's road freight market in 2022 will be about 5 trillion yuan, of which the overall market size of digital freight will be about 700 billion yuan, and the market potential is huge. The interviewed experts believe that the development momentum of the digital freight industry is strong and the future is promising, and it is still necessary to work together to promote the digital transformation of the freight industry at a deeper level and on a larger scale, create a good industrial ecology, and promote the standardized, healthy and sustainable development of the industry.
Platform "matchmaking" The freight industry is developing rapidly.
On the one hand, there are shippers who publish demands, and on the other hand, there are truck drivers ......who register to "take orders".Boarding the "Rongcheng Zhiyun" platform, network big data connects shippers and carriers, and the information of cargo sources and vehicles is clear at a glance.
The platform is like a trucking version of 'online ride-hailing software'. Chai Shuman, Secretary of the Party Committee of Tianjin Rongcheng United Iron and Steel Group, described that after the transportation drivers are concentrated on the platform, the "intelligent dispatch" can make the vehicles from afar return with full loads, alleviate the problem of information asymmetry, and promote the significant reduction of market transaction costs.
Registered in April 2018, "Rongcheng Zhiyun" is an online freight platform built by Rongcheng Group. Since its establishment five years ago, the business of "Rongcheng Zhiyun" has spread to 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country, with 17 registered vehicles20,000 vehicles, with a cumulative transportation volume of more than 8,200 tons.
The change of a platform reflects the vivid practice of the development of the digital freight industry under the wave of informatization.
According to the China Digital Freight Development Report, the overall market size of digital freight in 2022 will be about 700 billion yuan. By the end of 2022, there were 2,537 network freight companies (including branches) in the countryIn 2022, a total of 9401 waybills were uploaded20,000 orders, a year-on-year increase of 360%。
In recent years, the scale of the digital freight platform market has grown rapidly, the business model has gradually diverged, and the economic and social benefits have gradually emerged. Zhou Zhicheng, director of the research office of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, said that today, the platform business has gradually changed from the traditional "vehicle and cargo matching" to network transportation, industrial empowerment, ecological co-construction and other directions.
Located on the shore of the Bohai Sea, Tianjin Dongjiang Comprehensive Bonded Zone is one of the "highlands" for the development of China's digital freight platform, and the representative digital freight enterprise Full Truck Group settled here a few years ago.
In 2022, the group's business volume in Tianjin has increased several times, which is simply 'leaps and bounds'. Kong Qingfeng, senior director of the ** affairs department of the Full Truck Group and director of the Policy Research Center of the Full Truck Research Institute, said that digital freight has shortened the distance between enterprises and drivers, improved efficiency, and now the driver's "order-taking" time has been reduced from three or four days to a few hours or even minutes.
In order to promote the standardized development of the digital freight industry and keep up with the development and changes of emerging industries, some places are also constantly promoting measures and finding solutions. In recent years, the Tianjin Municipal Road Transport Administration has issued a series of policy documents such as the Notice on Clarifying the Division of Responsibilities of the Units for the Identification of Online Service Capabilities of Online Freight Application Enterprises and the Notice on Further Strengthening the Operation and Management of Road Cargo Transport on the Online Platform, so as to improve the efficiency of identification and review, strengthen supervision during and after the event, and help enterprises reduce time costs.
Opportunities and challenges coexist in the initial stage.
As a new thing, the digital freight industry is developing rapidly, but it is still in its infancy, and opportunities and challenges coexist. According to the China Digital Freight Development Report, the current penetration rate of China's digital freight market is only about 15%. Many industry experts believe that the rise of digital freight is conducive to promoting the intensive, information-based and efficient operation of road transportation, changing the decentralized and inefficient operation mode, and the development space is very broad. However, in the actual development process of the industry, it is still necessary to explore and move forward and give full play to the joint efforts of all parties.
The policy system needs to be improved at a faster pace. In recent years, the "Interim Measures for the Operation and Management of Road Freight Transport on the Network Platform" has clarified the definition and management requirements of online freight, but a number of experts pointed out that the measures do not currently include the freight matching trading platform into the management scope, and the responsibilities of transportation, taxation, market supervision and other departments need to be clarified, and the relevant supporting systems need to be improved in the future.
Zhou Zhicheng and other experts also said that there is a legal absence of the main responsibility for the security of digital freight platforms, and some digital freight platforms evade the corresponding security main responsibility on the grounds that there is no legal basis. At present, the relevant parties are not strict enough to review the qualifications of platform participants, and lack of necessary safety management and monitoring measures, which can easily lead to security risk events of platform users, and problems such as overloading and overloading, over-scope operation, and illegal subcontracting are not uncommon.
Multimodal transport connections also need to be straightened out. Experts generally believe that digital freight needs to be linked with water transportation, railway, aviation and other transportation stations in order to better play the role of "dual circulation". Multimodal transport is one of the important trends in the future development of the transportation industry, which can use modern organizational means to organically combine various single modes of transport and break the boundaries of transport areas.
In recent years, various parts of China have been exploring and innovating around the "one single system" and "one box system", and the foundation of multimodal transport facilities has begun to take shape. However, at present, the digitalization and informatization construction of transportation facilities such as highways, ports and terminals, railway stations, and freight airports, as well as logistics hubs and logistics parks, needs to be further consolidated.
In addition, the off-site supervision mechanism still needs to be optimized. "In our day-to-day management, we have found that some platforms are heavily licensed and operational. Zhang Jiakun, director of the road transport department of Tianjin Road Transport Administration, pointed out that network freight companies generally have the characteristics of cross-regional operation and office, which also increases the difficulty of supervision.
Zhou Zhicheng and others pointed out that digital freight has the characteristics of "one-point access and network-wide service", and the registration place of the platform enterprise, the location of the server, the place of access and the place of origin of the goods, the place of arrival of the goods or the place of transportation business are usually separated from each other, but the main body of the platform is still dominated by territorial supervision. Zhang Long, a freight logistics expert from Tianjin Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute, also said that the Internet freight platform spans multiple industries and fields, and there is still a gap in the division of powers and responsibilities of relevant departments, and there are still difficulties such as unclear regulatory subjects and unclear responsibilities.
To optimize the industrial ecology, it is still necessary to practice "internal strength".
Experts said that the future of digital freight is promising, and it will continue to release "new kinetic energy" for promoting the development of the real economy, and relevant departments need to work together to create a standardized, healthy and sustainable industrial track.
Zhang Jiakun and others believe that it is necessary to improve the legal system and form a policy synergy. They suggested that in the future, the "Interim Measures for the Operation and Management of Road Freight Transport on Online Platforms" can be further improved, clarifying the responsibilities of various institutions and the punishment measures for violations, and playing a role in regulating and guiding online freight enterprises. Peng Zhengyin, director of the Organizational Innovation and Governance Research Center of Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, and other experts suggested that the formation of a multi-party co-governance situation of platform data property rights should be accelerated, and the value measurement and evaluation system of data assets should be built.
The interviewed experts believe that it is necessary to improve the logistics system and give full play to the role of the park. In the future, it is necessary to further accelerate the integration and construction of logistics hub resources, improve the supporting policies for smart logistics, stimulate the endogenous power of industry development, and enhance the willingness and investment of enterprises to carry out intelligent transformation and upgrading of facilities and equipment. In addition, it is necessary to accelerate the study of the policy and implementation path of the development of industrial parks, and promote industrial parks to play an active role in attracting investment, supervision, and service innovation, so as to lead the sustainable development of the digital freight industry. Zhou Ji, deputy director of the New Economy Promotion Bureau of Tianjin Dongjiang Comprehensive Bonded Zone, said: "Effective financial services are crucial to the development of digital freight transportation, and Dongjiang is exploring providing one-stop and professional services for digital freight companies, relying on the advantages of financial leasing and commercial factoring, to help digital freight companies revitalize upstream and downstream funds, reduce costs and increase efficiency." ”
In addition, collaborative supervision should be strengthened to optimize the industry ecology. Zhou Zhicheng and others suggested that a joint promotion mechanism of "first-class guidance, industry empowerment, leading leadership, and association support" should be built, the responsibilities of digital freight authorities and regulatory agencies should be clarified, the division of labor and cooperation and data sharing should be strengthened, cross-departmental and cross-level collaborative supervision should be strengthened, case consultation and joint punishment should be strengthened, and the cross-regional characteristics of digital freight activities should be adapted to break the limitations of territorial management. In addition, a number of experts suggested that we should pay attention to the role of platform management and industry self-discipline, explore the establishment of a multi-party collaborative and co-governance mechanism of first-class department governance, platform enterprise autonomy, industry association self-discipline and practitioner participation, and work together to improve the level of digital freight governance and industrial status, and better empower industrial ecological cooperation and win-win.
He Dengcai, vice president of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, said that to promote the high-quality development of freight logistics, it is necessary to reform the system, straighten out the mechanism, optimize the tax system, etc., and standardized supply, digital and intelligent transformation, and green upgrading will be an important direction for the development of the industry.
*: Economic Information Daily.