The China Clean Transportation 0partnership (CCTP) held its first online seminar recently. The topic was “Focusing on the 14th Five-Year Plan: Analysis and Solution of the Status of Transport Structural Adjustment. 25 experts, scholars, and industry practitioners from 16 institutions participated in the seminar to discuss problems and solutions in the process of transport structure adjustment.

Background

According to “The Three-Year Action Plan for The Promotion of Transport Structural Adjustment (2018-2020)” issued by the State Council Office in 2018. The Action Plan addressed that by 2020, the national cargo transport structure will be significantly optimized, the bulk cargo transportation capacity undertaken by railways and waterways will be increased, and the volume of port railway collection and dredging as well as container multimodal transport volume will increase significantly. Also, the breakthrough will be made in transport structural adjustment in key regions, turning Jing-Jin-Ji and surrounding areas into a national demonstration area for transportation structural adjustment. 2020 is not only the last year of the "Three-Year Action Plan", but also the key year of the 14th Five-Year Plan. What is the status quo of transport structural adjustment? How effective is the “truck-to-rail” and “truck to waterway” model? What is the impact on road freight? What impact did the coronavirus outbreak have on the transportation industry? How should the existing problems be improved in the next Five-Year Plan?

Discussion

The seminar is chaired by Mr. Xu Honglei, from the Transport Planning and Research Institute, Ministry of Transport. Director Xu indicated that for the upcoming 14th Five-Year Plan, whether from the perspective of winning the blue-sky defense war or to promote high-quality development of transportation, transportation structural adjustment will remain a very critical task. The seminar was led by Ms. Liu Huan, the Associate Professor from School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Ms. Liu Ying, the Director of Energy & Environment Center, Beijing Transport Institute, and Ms. Shao Zhenying, the Researcher of the International Council on Clean Transportation in San Francisco, USA. Ms. Liu Huan discussed the atmospheric environmental impact of the freight structural adjustment at Jing-Jin-Ji area; Ms. Liu Ying shared thoughts on the path of optimizing the transportation structure during the 14th Five-Year Plan based on Beijing’s practical experience; Ms. Shao shared the study of the Green Logistics Chain between China and the United States, and its implication on China's transportation structural adjustment.

At the meeting, Mr. Gong Huiming, the Director of the Executive Committee of the CCTP and the Director of the Transportation Project of the Energy Foundation, Ms. He Hui, the Executive Director of the China Project of the International Clean Transportation Commission, Dr. An Feng, the Executive Director of the Innovation Center of Energy and Transportation, Mr. Wang Boyong, the Director of the Smart Freight Centre (China region), Professor Zhang Xiaodong, the Director of the Department of Logistics Engineering from School of Traffic and Transportation in Beijing Jiaotong University, Mr. Han Zhaoxing, the Director of the Water Transport Environmental Protection Office from Transport Planning and Research Institute, MOT, Mr. Liu Xiaoxi, the General Manager of INV Innovative Supply Chain, and Ms. Gan Mi, the Associate Professor of the School of Transportation and Logistics of Southwest Jiaotong University, respectively proposed their views on the difficulties and practice of multimodal transportation, the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the transportation industry, and the current situation of waterway transportation development. Moreover, the meeting invited Mr. Fu Zhihuan, the member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the former Minister of Railways, to attend the meeting. Experts from the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, MEE, the New Energy and Intelligent and Connected Vehicles Innovation Center, Clean Air Asia, Natural Resources Defense Council, the World Resources Institute, and other institutions also participated in the seminar.

In the end, Director Gong Huiming made a wonderful summary of this seminar and encouraged all parties to carry out more in-depth research on the transport structural adjustment.

Participants are from: （in no particular order）

Transport Planning and Research Institute, MOT
Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, MEE
Beijing Transport Institute
School of Environment, Tsinghua University
School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University
School of Transportation and Logistics, Southwest Jiaotong University
New Energy and Intelligent and Connected Vehicles Innovation Center
INV
Energy Foundation
Innovation Center for Energy and Transportation
Clean Air Asia
Smart Freight Centre
International Council on Clean Transportation
World Resources Institute
Natural Resources Defense Council
China Clean Air Policy Partnership