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The 2023 Shenzhen International Forum on Ro-Ro Automotive Logistics, hosted by Shenzhen Port Group, took place on the afternoon of September 22nd at the Expo in the Convention and Exhibition Centre. Representatives from global ports, shipping, logistics, and automobile enterprises gathered to focus on the development of China’s automobile Ro-Ro logistics international channel. Together, they discussed and exchanged ideas about the construction of an integrated service system for the automobile supply chain. Shenzhen, with its vibrant automotive industry, eagerly awaits your arrival. The forum was attended by over 200 individuals, which included esteemed authorities from Shenzhen, representatives from friendly ports associated with Shenzhen Port, influential leaders from the new energy automobile industry, renowned experts in global shipping and logistics, top-tier enterprises involved in automobile trade, and distinguished scholars.

Changjiu Logistics’ international business team and ADAMPOL S.A., a significant subsidiary of Changjiu Logistics, actively participated in the forum, showcasing their remarkable business offerings and international solutions.

Established in Poland in 1990, ADAMPOL S.A. specializes in automotive logistics, serving various European countries, including Poland, Spain, Belgium, Russia, and more. With an extensive network of steam and sea transport routes, ADAMPOL S.A. stands as a crucial player on the field. In particular, their strategic location in Małaszewicze, Poland provides valuable station resources and serves as a core asset for Changjiu Logistics’ involvement in the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. Undoubtedly, ADAMPOL S.A. plays a pivotal role along the “One Belt One Road” initiative.

In 2015, Changjiu Logistics opened the China-European liner train. In 2021, they acquired 30% of ADAMPOL S.A. This acquisition helps Changjiu Logistics develop in international logistics, market planning, and network development. It also strengthens their international business capacity and supports national brands in going global.

The China-Europe Railway Express International Cooperation Forum, co-sponsored by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Transport, the General Administration of Customs, the State Railway Group, and the People’s Governments of various provinces and municipalities, was successfully held in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, China on September 15. The forum, focused on “Deepening Interconnection and Promoting Mutually Beneficial Cooperation”, brought together key stakeholders to discuss and explore avenues for strengthened collaboration between China and the European Union. The China-Europe Railway Express has been operating in a safe, stable, and efficient manner since its inception. It has revolutionized international transportation between Asia and Europe, establishing a novel platform for economic and trade collaboration along its routes. Furthermore, its significance lies in its ability to maintain the stability of the global supply chain, instilling a newfound momentum for the thriving of the world economy. China will continue to work with all parties to uphold the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and appreciation, mutual benefit and win-win situations, adhere to the principle of joint construction and sharing, and promote the development of China-European Union liner trains in the direction of higher quality, better benefit, and greater safety, to make new and greater contributions to the promotion of the global economy, the well-being of the people of all countries, and the promotion of the building of a community of shared destiny for mankind.

Changjiu Logistics(CJL) and HAO International were invited to attend this forum, and will join hands with representatives of all parties to promote the continuous progress and development of China-EU liner, deepen practical cooperation, and boost the high-quality development of “One Belt, One Road” initiative.

As the core logistics carrier for building “Open Dragon River” and “New High Ground for Opening to the North”, HAO International, after eight years of development, has formed two brands of “Harbbin-Europe trains” and “Harbin-Russian trains”. brand and “Harbin – Hamburg”, “Harbin – Minsk”, “Daqing – Zeebrugge”, “Harbin – Moscow Harbin-Hamburg”, “Harbin-Minsk”, “Daqing-Zeebrugge” and “Harbin-Moscow” are the most representative and commercially valuable China-Europe railway train liner platforms in the east Asian. As of August 2023, a total of 119,864 TEUs, equivalent to 1,814 columns, have been shipped on the Harbin-Europe international open class, with a cumulative delivery value of about RMB 21.5 billion.

CJL set up a joint venture company, HAO International, in Harbin in 2015 to operate the China-European Union (CEU) liner business. Over the years, the company has continued to co-operate with key CEU liner and local railway platforms, such as Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi’an, Harbin, Hunchun, etc., and has been actively striving for offshore landed resources, so as to realise strong support for the majority of customers of its own brands, as well as for a large number of customers of high-end international brands, as represented by European brands, with annual shipment volume of up to 30,000 TEUs. The annual shipping volume can reach 30,000 units. 2023, the international business will focus on promoting the incubation of key businesses, such as sea-railway intermodal transport services on key routes, KD package integration services, automotive trade and logistics integration services, commercial vehicle export logistics and value-added services, and simultaneously build core operational capabilities, contributing to the long-term strength of safeguarding and supporting China’s own brands to go global.

Founded in 1992, Changjiu Logistics(CJL) is China’s largest third-party logistics company dedicated to finished vehicles transport.Since the launch of our international strategy in 2014, we have actively participates in a series of projects on the “One Belt One Road”initiative such as the China-Europe Railway Express, aiming to serve the large European automobile manufacturers and provide customers with high-quality door to door railway transport services.In order to improve the quality of customer service, CJL has set up branches in Germany and Poland, which can provide customers with 24-hour global service in real time, corresponding to the needs of customers in a timely manner and maximising the interests of clients.

 

On 4th September, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced the list of 2023 National Key Contact Enterprises in Commerce and Trade Logistics.

To fully implement the decision-making and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council for a robust national economic cycle and the construction of a modern circulation system, the Ministry of Commerce and other 9 departments have recently released two significant initiatives. The first is a comprehensive action plan titled “High-Quality Development of Commerce and Trade Logistics (2021-2025),” which aims to accelerate the growth of outstanding commerce and trade logistics enterprises. The second initiative is the “Key Contact System for Commerce and Trade Logistics Enterprises (Pilot Implementation) is crucial for building stronger relationships with these companies. These promotional initiatives play a vital role in ensuring the successful development of our national economy.

According to reports, the Ministry of Commerce has requested preliminary declarations from enterprises, and local business departments have provided recommendations. On the basis of the relevant industry associations on the basis of the enterprise declaration materials for review, and initially identified the 2023 national business logistics key contact 336 enterprises. The list of enterprises is now announced for the period from 4 to 8 September 2023.

Changjiu Logistics and its important holding subsidiary, HAO International, have been selected for the list.

Information on HAO International

 

 

HAO International Logistic was established in 2015 as a joint venture by Beijing Changjiu Logistics (stock code 603569), Harbin Railway Bureau and Dalian Port (stock code 601880) (with a registered capital of RMB 100 million), and took the lead in opening the first cross-border crate China-European Union (CEU) liner in the Northeast China on 13 June 2015, which is an important heart logistics carrier for the construction of the “Belt and Road” in Heilongjiang Province. On 26 May 2017, Ha’eu was included in the China-European liner transport coordinators’ association, member no. NO.0011, which is an important logistics carrier for the construction of “One Belt, One Road” in Heilongjiang Province.

 

Re-edit Aug 28, 2023 09:00 am Published by Changjiu Logistics in Hamburg EDT
Original Aug 23, 2023 11:31 am Dong Jianwei China Journal of Logistics & Purchasing EDT

China’s automobile exports have entered a new era of dominance, surpassing Japan for the first time in the first three months of this year. Not stopping there, it has also claimed the top spot in the global market, outperforming Japan in semi-annual automobile exports. China’s auto exports remained strong after the rapid recovery of the auto market following quarantine measures.Despite the growth in automobile exports, car companies and cross-border logistics providers have always had concerns due to limited shipping capacity. On the morning of August 5th, Meng Qingwen, the Vice President of Changjiu Logistics, participated in an interview with China Logistics & Purchasing Magazine.

Meng Qingwen, Vice President of Changjiu Logistics

Part 1 Soaring Exports Continuing to Power Up

In recent years, China’s auto export market can be described as “soaring”. Based on data from the China Association of Automotive Management (CAAM), China’s auto exports experienced a significant milestone in 2012, surpassing the 1 million mark. Fast forward to 2021, and China’s auto exports reached an impressive milestone of 2 million units in a single year. Looking ahead to 2022, China’s auto exports are projected to reach an even higher level, with a whopping 3.111 million units being exported. The first half of this year alone saw China’s auto exports reach 2.341 million units, and it is expected that from 2021 to 2023, China will continue to see an annual increase of over 1 million units in auto exports.

Chinese commercial vehicles have cost-effective advantages over European products and can quickly gain market share abroad, supported by services and new products. “In these two years, commercial vehicle exports ushered in a concentrated release period. Meng Qingwen highlighted that in the future, the overseas market demand will likely maintain a strong momentum. ” Furthermore, Meng Qingwen emphasized that as the business competition in the domestic automobile market intensifies and Chinese car companies accelerate their internationalization process, there will be abundant production capacity and product releases to overseas markets, which will bring new opportunities and challenges to logistics providers. While Chinese logistics enterprises are well-versed in collaborating with domestic automobile companies, it is highly probable that professional domestic logistics companies will dominate the corresponding logistics services for overseas car companies, as they are more experienced in providing localized workers.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               Source:Caixin.com

Changjiu Logistics(CJL) responds to this change in demand and closely follows the footsteps of automobile enterprises in their layout. CJL currently operates in Poland, Germany, and Central Asia. In the future, it will expand in Southeast Asia and South America to serve Chinese car brands globally. The company will offer various services for vehicle commodities, including packaging and warehousing for the automotive industry, for complete vehicles and KD.

Chinese double-deck car carrier wagon railway train

CJL’s strategy for expanding its presence in the global market revolves around the crucial idea of swiftly adapting to dynamic market demands. Not only does CJL prioritize this, but it also goes the extra mile by offering additional services tailored to the specific needs of its valued clients. Its business layout is the result of full communication with customers or forward-looking judgement of industry trends. CJL will focus on developing additional services, like used car transport and trade, cross-border highways, offshore ports and terminals, and logistics services between overseas countries.

“At this stage, we are deeply involved in cross-border whole vehicle and KD packaging and transport. Our System’s 1,200-member KD packaging team is copying existing packaging functions to provide services for domestic automobile brands, improving support for cost, timeliness, and quality.” Meng Qingwen said.

Part 2 Logistics Industry Under Pressure and Positive Response

China’s vehicles export market lacks sufficient ro-ro capacity to meet the growing demand, causing capacity constraints. Vehicle manufactures and shipowners have been boosting their investment in ro-ro capacity. However, there exists a time lag between this investment and the actual demand. It is projected that the new capacity will be available by the second half of 2024 or early 2025. Meanwhile, certain car brands are imposing strict requirements on their suppliers, regarding recyclable energy and environmental protection, in line with considerations such as ship age, driving regulations, international and domestic carbon emissions, and environmental registration requirements. Consequently, these requirements will inevitably lead to the “natural elimination” of older capacities and impose certain limitations on overall capacity. Based on this, it is not difficult to find that the tight capacity derived from the mismatch between supply and demand will continue for some time, and the resulting high freight rates will not be solved in a short period of time.

Meng Qingwen’s analysis, it is crucial for cross-border logistics providers to effectively optimize costs for customers, considering that customers have always been sensitive to prices. However, the price is determined by market trends, which are influenced by the limited resources available for ro-ro transport backhaul. Factors such as efficient loading times can directly affect the overall return time.

Therefore, at this phase, we hope that other types of transportation will help reduce the demand for ro-ro transport. When demand decreases, prices will stabilize. With the introduction of new ro-ro capacity, prices will gradually return to normal. As for the large gap in the ro-ro capacity market, CJL has actually made a prediction. In addition to operating its own ro-ro vessels on international routes, our company also collaborates with various partners to enhance its space resources.

Changjiu Fortune Ro-Ro Ship

Furthermore, CJL continuously strive to expand our multimodal transport capabilities to meet and exceed the needs of our valued customers. Mr.Meng stated:”Our utmost priority is to ensure that our routes, service quality, and sailing schedules align with the highest expectations. In addition, the company has been actively exploring structural resources, such as making full use of double deck car carrier wagon resources in railways and expanding overseas wagon to connect with various modes of transport in China, and the results are beginning to show. In terms of the China Railway Express(CR Express), apart from relying on the liner resources of the company’s joint-venture company, Harbin Europe International Co.(HAO), in Heilongjiang province, the company has also been actively cooperating in-depth with many domestic platforms for CR Express, so as to maintain stable growth in its operations.”

                                                                     Source:Chinadaily.com

Meng Qingwen told reporters: CJL remains committed to continuous investment, even in the midst of industry development and evolving customer demands. Rather than simply being a standard freight forwarder, and we seek to establish itself as a dedicated and expert service team. An advanced IT system has been implemented in international business this year. This entity allows for better control of information and data across all business segments. It helps businesses make adjustments and accurate decisions. On the basis of main transport route , CJL has actively improved operational capabilities at both ends, including port collection and station collection in the domestic segment and short barging circuits in small regions; it has also been actively expanding its overseas business, such as warehousing and buffer services, end-to-end distribution services, customs clearance, and other related value-added services, etc. It has also been pushing forward the feasibility analysis of establishing controllable overseas warehouses , to strengthen the operational efficiency of the entire supply chain and ensure that customers’ demands are satisfied. ”

Part 3  Situation eased up Rise to the Challenge

Based on Meng Qingwen’s perspective, he believes that the current tight situation regarding ro-ro capacity will gradually improve in the coming years. Firstly, this is due to the fact that ro-ro shipping is the dominant mode for automobile exports. Although other modes such as containers, pulp ships, anti-frame boxes, and bulk shipments can be used as supplementary capacity, the ro-ro ship remains the most crucial. Additionally, there has been an increase in the number of post-quarantine railway China-European liners and highway ports that cater to automobile exports. These regular routes provide significant support to markets in Central Asia, East Asia, eastern EU countries, and more. As a result, the positive impact of this expansion is evident. In the long run, in addition to some shipowners, car companies will have a huge number of new ships in 2025 around the batch launch, car export growth rate in the next 3 to 5 years or can reach a certain balance, which will reduce the pressure on the ro-ro market. “At that time, domestic car companies will increase their efforts to build factories and invest in the destination countries or demand places for exports, rather than relying only on exporting complete cars to meet market demand. In the future, there will be changes in the structure of exported complete vehicles and KDs, and the localised development of car enterprises will continue to deepen, and the scale and capacity of overseas plant construction will continue to expand. Based on this, the ro-ro market will also see corresponding changes.” Meng Qingwen said.

So, will the market be saturated with ro-ro capacity? Meng Qingwen believes that: professional people do professional things, and professional ro-ro capacity will usher in a balance between natural growth and elimination. For example, bulk and miscellaneous ships, pulp ships, container ships can do ro-ro capacity supplement, but the operation is more complex and prone to cargo damage, the applicability of automotive commodities, the operation of professionalism is to be explored and considered. Taking new energy vehicles as an example, no matter whether ro-ro or rail transport is used, the most efficient way is to use specialised transport equipment and professional operation. CJL for new energy vehicles driving, loading, safety, technology, performance and other aspects of the requirements, issued relevant training and operation manuals, each link to do a good job of effective control and management, to avoid vehicles or batteries in the logistics chain of safety issues and power attenuation; in the investment of hardware, input and application of GPS, temperature controllers, car loading required brackets, trays and so on. It can be believed that the market will play the role of the best transfer, the new ro-ro capacity supplemented in, not only will be used for the export of new cars, but also for domestic machinery and equipment, used cars and other commodities export transport.

(Source:IEA)

Electric car sales between 2010 and 2023

 

In response to China’s automobile exports for a long time to maintain a high growth trend, China’s cross-border logistics providers in the end how to follow the trend? Meng Qingwen proposed that the need to pay attention to the following three aspects: first, the industry is still in a blossoming stage of development, all walks of life on the automobile exports, including used car exports want to vigorously participate in, but the professionalism is not enough, and some enterprises are more “follow the trend”, and did not continue to invest in the above situation is in urgent need of improvement; second, in the normative and industrial standards, the technical threshold should be raised, and the industry standards should be improved. Secondly, in the normative and industry standards, should improve the technical threshold, such as individual enterprises bidding in the “lowest price winning method” and other phenomena, the cost can only be used as one of the reference value of the bid or not, can not represent the whole of the level of professional services; Thirdly, logistics enterprises to strengthen with the foreign such as railways, shipping, customs and other departments to work closely together, to increase regular learning, Once again, logistics enterprises should strengthen close cooperation with overseas departments such as railway, shipping and customs to increase regular learning and exchange opportunities, and industry authorities and representative enterprises also need to participate in the process to accelerate the professional and extensive development of automotive logistics, especially international logistics services, and to promote the industry’s standardisation and progress, and health and upward movement.

 

(The Chinese version of this article will be published in the China Journal of Logistics and Purchasing, Issue 17, 2023.)