On July 16th, a special press conference on Neijiang's "15th Five-Year Plan" was held at the Sichuan Provincial News Briefing Hall. The event highlighted key terms such as "location," "hub," and "logistics," with a core focus on "leveraging an 'open hub' to enhance circulation" as a major priority for the city over the next five years.
Strategically positioned at the heart of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone, Neijiang possesses a distinct geographical advantage. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the city concentrated on its provincial mandate to "build a regional logistics hub." This effort led to the completion of eight major transportation links, including the Chengdu-Yibin high-speed railway and the Neijiang-Dazu expressway, achieving the milestone of high-speed rail and dual expressway access for every county. Concurrently, facilities such as the Neijiang Bonded Logistics Center (Type B) and the International Railway Port became operational, the site for Neijiang Airport received approval, and leading enterprises like STO Express established a presence in the city.
To date, Neijiang ranks third in Sichuan Province for the number of A-grade logistics enterprises. Its international freight train services now reach 29 cities across 17 countries, establishing a foundational multimodal transport and cross-border logistics system. This progress has earned Neijiang recognition as one of the province's first batch of logistics hub cities.
Capitalizing on Location for Open Development
A central question for Neijiang is how to leverage its locational strengths and existing transport infrastructure to expand its hub economy and foster a higher level of open economy. The city has set a clear goal: to strive to become a hub-type open city within the Chengdu-Chongqing region and to build a new high ground for southward opening facing ASEAN.
Transportation as the Foundational Support
Transportation is the essential groundwork for open development. "By 2030, we aim to achieve triple expressway access for every county across Neijiang," stated Yang Bin, Vice Mayor of Neijiang, at the conference. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, Neijiang will persistently enhance its multimodal transport network integrating road, rail, air, and water. Key projects such as the Suining-Neijiang section of the Mianyang-Suining-Ziyang-Neijiang Railway and the expansion of the Chengdu-Chongqing Expressway will be completed, while efforts to increase capacity on the Chengdu-Longchang section of the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway will advance.
Simultaneously, the city will accelerate preparatory work for Neijiang Airport and deepen the development of the Tuojiang River waterway. The goal is to comprehensively establish major transport corridors that connect Chengdu and Chongqing, radiate nationwide, reach directly to ASEAN, and link with Europe and Asia, ensuring smoother and more efficient flow of production factors.
Building High-Energy Platforms
While establishing corridors is crucial, high-capacity platforms are needed to concentrate and amplify their effects. Upgrading high-energy logistics carriers and perfecting the multimodal transport functional system is Neijiang's second key focus for open development. The city plans to benchmark against national logistics hub standards to enhance the Neijiang International Logistics Port, deploy landmark projects for high-speed rail express and air cargo, and strengthen open platforms like the Bonded Logistics Center (Type B), the National Economic and Technological Development Zone, and the High-Tech Industrial Development Zone.
In parallel, Neijiang will implement initiatives to cultivate strong local logistics firms and attract leading external ones. The target is to reach 60 A-grade logistics enterprises in the city by 2030, including 10 enterprises rated 4A or above. This will build a complete, tiered ecosystem of logistics operators with robust supporting services, continuously improving the comprehensive capacity for cargo transshipment, warehousing, and distribution.
Enhancing Efficiency and Integration
Beyond upgrading physical infrastructure, reducing costs, improving efficiency, and integrating industry with logistics are key to activating the hub's vitality. Neijiang will promote the convergence of its corridor network, logistics network, and digital network ("Three Networks Integration"). It plans to create over 20 demonstration scenarios for digital and green logistics, promote "one-bill" and "one-container" systems for multimodal transport, and guide the shift of bulk cargo from road to rail and water transport.
The plan aims to reduce the proportion of total social logistics costs to the city's GDP to below 13.5% by 2030, thereby continuously lowering circulation costs for businesses. Furthermore, Neijiang will deeply embed logistics and supply chains into its pillar industries—such as equipment manufacturing, electronics and information technology, and food and pharmaceuticals—fostering a mutually reinforcing relationship between hub logistics and industrial clusters, and using its circulation advantages to amplify industrial competitiveness.
Broadening the Open Economic Landscape
The ultimate objective of establishing efficient channels, strong platforms, and low costs is to broaden the pattern of opening up. Vice Mayor Yang Bin indicated that in the future, leveraging the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, Neijiang will increase the frequency of international train services and cross-border road freight, deepen cooperation with coastal and border ports, and actively apply for special customs supervision platforms like comprehensive bonded zones and cross-border e-commerce pilot zones to stabilize its scale of foreign trade exceeding 100 billion yuan.
Additionally, Neijiang will facilitate the movement of distinctive products from the Chengdu-Chongqing region through its hub to ASEAN and global markets. It will also serve as a conduit for high-quality resources from ASEAN to radiate westward into southern Sichuan and the central Chengdu-Chongqing area, thereby genuinely opening up two-way circulation nodes connecting domestic and international markets.
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