Economic operation requires efficient collaboration and smooth connection among all links of the industrial chain, achieving stable operation of the entire chain from raw materials, intermediate products to finished products. Transportation and logistics connect production and consumption, domestic and foreign trade, maintain the safety and stability of the industrial and supply chains, and play a leading, fundamental, and guarantee role in the national economy. The 2024 Central Economic Work Conference proposed the implementation of a special action to reduce logistics costs for the entire society. This year's Government Work Report has made arrangements for accelerating the construction of a unified and open transportation market and implementing a special action to reduce logistics costs for the whole society. A series of important arrangements can further enhance the core competitiveness of industries, improve economic efficiency, and enable transportation and logistics to better serve the construction of a unified national market and high-quality economic and social development. In the process of social reproduction, circulation efficiency and production efficiency are equally important. Reducing the logistics costs of the whole society is an important measure to improve the efficiency of economic operation, which is of great significance for building a high-level socialist market economy system, accelerating the construction of a new development pattern, and promoting high-quality development. On the one hand, to deepen the construction of a unified national market, it is necessary to break through the bottlenecks that restrict economic circulation in terms of factor allocation and other aspects. Accelerating the construction of a unified and open transportation market, promoting the optimization of logistics resource allocation efficiency and maximizing benefits for the whole society, can smooth the domestic economic cycle, enhance China's economic resilience and strategic depth, and effectively improve the overall operational efficiency of the national economy. On the other hand, logistics is the "backbone" of the real economy and an important link to smooth the national economy. Improving the degree and efficiency of logistics organization can effectively promote the integration and innovation of logistics and industry, strengthen collaborative connection and element guarantee, and provide space for better handling the relationship between adjusting structure and deepening reform, building strong networks and smooth terminals, creating hubs and optimizing layout. Especially at present, the increasing global economic instability and uncertainty, the deepening adverse effects of external environmental changes, and insufficient domestic demand are important challenges facing China's economic operation. If logistics costs can be substantially reduced, transportation costs, warehousing costs, management costs, etc. will also be effectively reduced, which will have a positive effect on alleviating production and operation difficulties for enterprises, expanding domestic demand in all aspects, and promoting high-quality and full employment. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the integrated development of transportation and logistics in China has achieved remarkable results. By the end of 2024, the total length of the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network will exceed 6 million kilometers, the operating mileage of railways will exceed 160000 kilometers, the mileage of highways will reach 190000 kilometers, the mileage of high-grade waterways will exceed 67000 kilometers, the number of civil transportation airports will exceed 260, and the total number of national logistics hubs will increase to 151. The proportion of total logistics costs to GDP in the whole society has decreased from 21.4% in 2003 to 14.1% in 2024. The transportation and logistics field has formed a large-scale facility network, a large-scale service market, a large-scale technical equipment system, and supporting production capacity. At the same time, it should be noted that there are still shortcomings in the existing transportation system. The insufficient supporting infrastructure and equipment at the hub to some extent constrain the development of multimodal transport, and the functional system and layout of large-scale railway and highway passenger transport hubs need to be optimized; There are significant differences in development among different regions, and the interconnectivity and resilience of comprehensive transportation networks need to be strengthened. The mechanism for coordinated development across transportation modes needs to be improved; The transportation structure system is not yet sound, and the combination advantages of multiple transportation modes have not been fully utilized; The development of green and low-carbon transportation is relatively slow, and emission reduction in the transportation sector involves the entire industry chain, making it difficult; The digitalization level of the transportation and logistics industry is relatively low, and the informationization and automation level of most enterprise logistics equipment and operating systems is not high. The industry's industrial chain and supply chain guarantee capabilities are insufficient; The emergency logistics system is not yet perfect, and the emergency plan and cross regional organizational coordination capabilities are insufficient. These issues have to some extent constrained the cost reduction, quality improvement, and efficiency enhancement of transportation and logistics in the whole society. In 2024, the Central Office and the State Council issued the "Action Plan for Effectively Reducing Logistics Costs in the Whole Society", proposing to strive to reduce the ratio of total social logistics costs to GDP to around 13.5% by 2027. Further accelerate the structural, systematic, institutional, technical, comprehensive, and operational aspects of transportation and logistics to reduce costs, improve quality, and increase efficiency, and better leverage the supporting role of transportation and logistics in the construction of a modern industrial system. Efforts need to be made in the following areas. Improve the layout of the comprehensive transportation network and promote the intelligent construction of logistics hubs. From the perspective of improving the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network, promote the construction of multi-level integrated transportation hubs. On the premise of ensuring transportation efficiency, build a logistics circle around large and medium-sized cities and important transportation hubs, and expand the radiation and driving range of large and medium-sized cities and economic zones. Layout a high coverage logistics warehousing system and supporting facilities for collection and distribution, and promote the intelligent construction of logistics hubs. By strengthening cross regional logistics information collaboration and the construction of intermodal transportation facilities, effective connection of multiple transportation modes can be achieved, and hub resources can be efficiently shared. Strengthen traffic management, focus on logistics management and supply chain management, promote the transformation of logistics hubs into smart hubs through intelligent scheduling of resource elements and digital empowerment. Effectively integrating modern circulation network resources to promote logistics cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Consider supporting the formation of alliances in logistics sub sectors with conditions, leveraging brand effects and the influence of leading enterprises, and promoting industry sharing of resources and brands; By integrating standardized and information-based operation modes, optimizing logistics services based on the entire supply chain, reducing transportation costs, inventory levels, and inventory capital occupancy rates. Plan to integrate logistics management resources from relevant units, establish a mechanism for comprehensive planning, supervision, coordination, and coordination of logistics resources, build a logistics public information platform, improve relevant systems, integrate logistics information from all links of the supply chain, and achieve logistics cost reduction and efficiency improvement. At the same time, accelerate the construction of hub type modern logistics parks and promote the development of multimodal transportation. Encourage the development of new forms of commercial circulation and accelerate the digital and green transformation of the transportation industry. Optimize the layout of commercial and trade circulation infrastructure, accelerate digital construction, promote the integration of online and offline development, and form more new platforms, business forms, and models for commercial and trade circulation. Support the construction of digital third-party logistics delivery platforms, promote technological and business model innovation in the third-party logistics industry, and cultivate a group of digital platform enterprises and supply chain enterprises with global influence. Drawing on international experience, accelerating the integration with new infrastructure, and promoting the use of smart and green logistics equipment in emergency logistics. Strengthen the construction of emergency logistics system and promote the development of "dual-use" transportation and logistics. Improve the three-dimensional logistics transportation network, establish emergency supply chain centers at the national, provincial, municipal, and county levels, improve the modern emergency logistics allocation system that directly reaches the grassroots level, ensure the supply and coordinated management of important materials such as food and energy, and improve the multi style and three-dimensional transportation networks such as aviation, railway, highway, and waterway in the central and western regions. Build an emergency logistics information system platform, break down barriers to cross regional flow of goods, achieve overall planning, unified standards, unified scheduling, and resource information sharing in emergency logistics, establish and improve a standardized mutual recognition system, and ensure material supply. Establish sound laws and regulations related to emergency logistics, promote the connection and integration of management systems and rules; Develop an emergency material procurement plan for "emergency to emergency conversion", focusing on the construction of suburban warehouse bases, and construct "dual-use" logistics facilities in a graded and classified manner. (Xinhua News Agency) Author: Sun Jian (Executive Dean of Future Transportation College, Chang'an University, and Researcher at National Security Research Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University)