Recently, the Ministry of Transport and seven other departments jointly issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Intermodal Transportation with the ‘Single Document System’ and ‘Single Container System’” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”), aiming to promote the optimization of transportation structure, and enhance the quality and efficiency of comprehensive transportation services.

The “Single Document System” aims to achieve the goal of “one document, one consignment, one settlement, one insurance, and responsibility for whole course of transportation” for intermodal transportation of goods. This will promote the improvement of logistics quality and cost-effectiveness. The “Single Container System” aims to achieve the concept of “no container change, no container opening, and direct delivery to the destination” by relying on container units to enhance the efficiency of transportation operations.

In recent years, various regions have been continuously exploring and innovating, and the development of the “Single Document System” and “Single Container System” has made preliminary progress. However, there are still issues such as lack of data sharing, limited service products, inconsistent institutional rules, incomplete guarantee mechanisms, and inadequate development of operating entities.

Focusing on the prominent issues in current development, the Opinions propose 15 key tasks in 6 major aspects to improve the level of intermodal transportation services. This includes promoting information sharing in intermodal transportation, supporting the development of integrated services for intermodal transportation information, accelerating the promotion and application of international intermodal transportation bills of lading, promoting the development of electronic bills of lading in international intermodal transportation, expanding the service functions of the “Single Document System” in intermodal transportation, exploring the granting of property right certificates for intermodal transportation documents, enhancing the service system of the “Single Container System” in intermodal transportation and improving the cooperation mechanism of “no container change” during transportation, encouraging backbone enterprises to transition into intermodal transportation operators and guiding related intermodal transportation companies to strengthen synergy and collaboration.

The Opinions aim to further improve the legal and regulatory system for the “Single Document System” and “Single Container System” of intermodal transportation, accelerate the opening and sharing of intermodal transportation information, deepen the development of service functions for intermodal transportation documents, and continuously strengthen the development of top enterprises in intermodal transportation within 3 to 5 years. The promotion of the “Single Document System” and “Single Container System” service models will further enhance the quality and efficiency of transportation logistics, providing better support for achieving smooth logistics.

                                                                                                                  Source: WORKERS'DAILY