The average cargo sorting time per pallet has decreased from 8 minutes to 1 minute, the loading and unloading time per truck has been reduced from 3 hours to within 20 minutes, and labor costs have been reduced by more than 50%... Henan Province, in combination with the "Truck Flight" air-land intermodal network of Zhengzhou Airport, has promoted the national standard "Technical Requirements for Box-type Semi-trailers for Air-Land Intermodal Transport" to achieve integrated unitized transport, greatly improving comprehensive transport efficiency.
Why can a single standard play a role in reducing logistics costs and improving efficiency?
Reporters learned that there are many specifications and types of air cargo unit load devices that meet the standards after airworthiness certification. The widest outline of air cargo unitized goods is 2,438 mm, and the highest is 2,997 mm. Previously, the internal control width and height of box trucks (semi-trailers) that met national standards on the market were relatively small, making it impossible to load full M-type cargo pallets with a width of 2,438 mm. In actual operation, modified non-standard vehicles with widened and heightened dimensions were mostly used for unitized transport, or pallets were broken down for loose cargo transport, resulting in high rates of cargo damage and loss, greater safety risks, and impacts on air-land intermodal transport. After the new standard was introduced, air-land intermodal box-type semi-trailers that meet national standards are used as transport equipment for unitized transfer. Compared with previous conventional operation modes such as pallet breakdown sorting and loose cargo loading/unloading transport, efficiency has been greatly improved, and transport safety is better guaranteed.
Taking standard pallets as another example, Ren Feng, Deputy Director of the Department of Circulation Development at the Ministry of Commerce, introduced that the 1.2m × 1.0m standard pallet, as a basic loading device for logistics systems, is horizontally compatible with standard containers, turnover crates, packaging boxes, and other logistics carriers, and vertically compatible with modern warehouses, racks, forklifts, and other facilities and equipment. It is widely used in manufacturing, retail, and other fields. Promoting and using standard pallets can significantly improve the efficiency of warehousing, loading/unloading, and handling operations, reduce logistics costs and cargo damage rates, drive standardized upgrades of upstream and downstream logistics facilities and business processes, and serve as a link promoting standardized and coordinated development across the entire logistics chain. By promoting experience and practices such as "standard pallet circulation sharing pools" and "no pallet/container transfer throughout the journey" across various regions, leveraging standardization as a "small entry point" can achieve the "big picture" of reducing logistics costs across society.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's pallet standardization rate increased from 33.2% in 2021 to 38.5% in 2025. The scale of public rental pallet pools reached 57 million units. By 2027, the pallet standardization rate is expected to increase to around 40%. China is also actively promoting unified international logistics standards, enabling pallet standards to "go global." The 1.2m × 1.0m pallet specification has been widely accepted by ASEAN countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines, and the European Pallet Association has launched the Euro Pallet No. 3 with reference to China's standards.
Individual standards are becoming an important lever for reducing costs and improving efficiency in logistics across society.
At the end of 2025, six departments including the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Key Work Plan for Modern Logistics Standardization (2025-2027)." "This plan focuses on key issues such as the connectivity of logistics facilities and equipment across departments and transport modes, data interconnection, and management coordination, and deploys the formulation and revision of national logistics standards for the next three years. Currently, all tasks for 2025 have been completed," introduced Liu Hongsheng, Director of the Standard Technology Management Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China has cumulatively issued 210 national standards in the logistics field, achieving breakthroughs in multiple areas: logistics pallet and turnover container standards have been centrally updated and upgraded, with 13 standards issued for flat pallets, slip-sheet pallets, fruit and vegetable turnover crates, etc., ensuring consistency between national standards and international standards, and coordination between specific product standards and general methodology standards. National standards for multimodal transport have been accelerated to fill gaps, with 16 national standards developed and issued covering multimodal cargo classification codes, freight volume calculation, intermodal vehicles and waybills, etc., enhancing the level of integrated connectivity for multimodal transport. Efforts to develop mandatory logistics standards have been intensified, promoting the formulation of 20 mandatory national standards in areas such as green express packaging, fuel consumption limits for commercial vehicles, and dangerous goods transport, fostering technological innovation and enhancing logistics safety and emergency response capabilities.
The coordinated linkage between standards and regulations has been further strengthened. Xu Huarong, Deputy Director of the Policy and Regulation Department of the State Post Bureau, introduced that the newly revised "Regulations on Express Delivery" in 2025 added a dedicated chapter on "Express Packaging" and referenced relevant mandatory standards. The enabling effect of standards has been remarkable: electronic waybills and reusable transit bags have basically achieved full coverage across the industry; the number of layers in packaging boxes and the thickness of packaging bags have been reduced by more than half; tape width has been reduced by more than 25%; and the level of green, reduced, and recyclable express packaging continues to improve.
Gong Yongjun, Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Transport, introduced that efforts will be made to strengthen the supply of high-quality standards, focusing on key areas such as multimodal transport and smart logistics, and promoting the formulation and revision of standards for comprehensive freight hubs, air-land collaborative infrastructure, intelligent charging and battery-swapping service networks for electric heavy-duty trucks on main freight corridors, multimodal waybill business processes, and network freight information exchange, to support the integrated development of transport and logistics across regions, modes, and sectors.