If transport-driven common prosperity is about weaving a dense domestic network for people's livelihoods, then the "four-port" coordination serves as the outward engine for unblocking open corridors. Seaports, land ports, airports, and digital trade ports do not operate in isolation; they are connected through infrastructure, aligned standards, linked information, and business alliances, jointly building a multidimensional logistics framework that links Zhejiang to the world and radiates across the nation.
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, Zhejiang has listed a globally connected transport opening system as a key task, positioning the seaport as the leader, the airport as a distinctive feature, the land port as the foundation, and the digital trade port as the link. It aims to drive coordinated efforts across four transport modes, clear bottlenecks in domestic and international dual-circulation logistics, and provide solid transport support for building a high-level open province.
"The core essence of 'four-port' coordination lies in the word 'coordination.' In the past, seaports, railway yards, and airports each managed their own segment, and cargo owners had to deal with multiple parties separately; now the goal is to break down barriers between each link, bind ports, yards, and digital platforms into a single rope, and truly convert hub advantages into foreign trade competitive advantages," said a relevant official from the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Transport.
Seaport Strengthens Hub Role and Opens New Northbound Routes to Forge World-Class Strength
With the blast of a ship's horn and waves surging in the East China Sea, on September 9 the vessel "Dubai Tower," loaded with "Made in China" goods such as energy storage cabinets, power batteries, and photovoltaic modules, arrived at Teesport in the United Kingdom after a 21-day voyage. This marked the successful completion of the first regular commercial voyage in 2026 for the China-Europe Arctic Express, and this northbound logistics corridor completed its leap from trial sailing to seasonal weekly commercial operation.
"Taking the Arctic route is not a matter of seeking the far instead of the near," said a relevant official from Haijie Shipping. The China-Europe Arctic Express covers about 8,000 nautical miles, saving 3,000 nautical miles compared with the Suez Canal route and cutting voyage time by 15 days. The route's naturally low-temperature environment is suitable for transporting heat-sensitive goods such as batteries, balancing timeliness, cost, and green low-carbon value. Of the 1,370 standard containers on this voyage, Zhejiang-origin cargo accounted for 56%, with the "new three" exports making up more than half, as large volumes of high-value-added products were shipped to the European market.
The normalization of the Arctic Express is one facet of Zhejiang's effort to strengthen its seaport hub during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Zhejiang is building a "one body, two wings" coastal port cluster, continuously strengthening the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port international hub, advancing high-standard construction of bulk commodity storage and transportation bases, and reinforcing the main hub. At the same time, it supports Wenzhou and Taizhou in jointly building a near-sea shipping center, supports Jiaxing in building a Yangtze River Delta sea-river intermodal hub port, and activates the potential of the north and south wings. At present, the province has 261 international shipping routes and plans to increase Ningbo-Zhoushan Port's international container routes to more than 270 by 2030, continuously enhancing its voice in global shipping.
Land Port Builds the Foundation and Runs Across the Eurasian Continent to Create a Resilient Land-Based Open Corridor
While maritime transport connects the oceans, land ports open up the continental hinterland. As ocean-going vessels head overseas, China-Europe freight trains depart with horns sounding from the Jinhua (Yiwu) assembly center, forming a "steel camel caravan" of land logistics that is less susceptible to maritime geopolitical disruption. Entering the East China International Intermodal Port, gantry cranes rise and fall as boxes of small commodities and hardware fittings are quickly marshaled and sent to Central Asia and Europe. In the first half of this year, Hangzhou Customs supervised more than 84,000 TEUs of export containers on Zhejiang's China-Europe freight trains (Yixinou), a record high for the same period and a year-on-year increase of 10.6%. Facing a complex and volatile international situation, China-Europe freight trains, with controllable transport times and relatively low exposure to geopolitical conflict, have become an important choice for many foreign trade enterprises seeking stable supply chains.
"Whatever products the market needs, we must provide the corresponding logistics products," said the head of Yixinou Trade Service Group Co., Ltd. Relying on the national China-Europe freight train assembly center, Zhejiang continues to enrich differentiated train products, steadily operating full-schedule trains, as well as diversified offerings such as dual-hub trains, premium trains, and zero-carbon trains. Like passenger flights, train numbers and schedules can be checked, helping overseas warehouse enterprises arrange replenishment plans precisely.
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, Zhejiang will continue to upgrade the capacity of the Jinhua (Yiwu) China-Europe freight train assembly center, improve the East China International Intermodal Port and the Phase III yard at Yiwu Railway Port; expand diversified international land transport corridors, actively participate in the construction of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor, deploy overseas distribution and allocation centers, and steadily raise the proportion of "hub-to-hub" train operations; promote international road freight development, encourage international road transport systems such as TIR and the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), open a "fourth logistics channel" toward Europe, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia, and further enhance supply chain resilience.
Airport Expands New Wings and Moves Port Functions Forward to Activate New Momentum in Air Logistics Opening
Maritime transport has large capacity and railways are highly stable, while air logistics focuses on high timeliness, filling the gap for rapid overseas shipment of high-value-added cross-border goods. In the past, air cargo security checks and inspections were all concentrated at airports, and during e-commerce promotions cargo stations could easily become backlogged. The reform of "advance coordination between special customs supervision zones and ports" is addressing this pain point. At the Xiasha advance cargo station of the Hangzhou Comprehensive Bonded Zone, a batch of cross-border e-commerce goods completes warehousing, security screening, and customs inspection here, then is sealed and transferred directly to Xiaoshan International Airport. Upon arrival at the airport, no second security check is needed, and the goods are loaded directly for export. As the province's first advance air cargo station, it moves the core regulatory functions of the airport cargo station forward into the hinterland of the comprehensive bonded zone, realizing a new operating model of "one inspection, accepted at the airport, mutually recognized across the zone."
"In the past, during promotion seasons all goods had to be hauled to the airport and queued, the stocking cycle was long, and warehousing pressure was enormous. Now all procedures can be completed inside the comprehensive bonded zone, with same-day warehousing, same-day completion, and same-day shipment," said the head of a cross-border e-commerce enterprise with deep feeling. After the reform, the overall air export time for enterprises has been shortened, warehousing costs have fallen, and transport efficiency has improved, reducing burdens for enterprises while easing peak-period pressure at airport cargo stations.
Across the province, the "15th Five-Year Plan" for building a strong civil aviation province is laid out at multiple points. The Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport gateway hub will be strengthened, and Jiaxing Nanhu Airport, as a nationally specialized air cargo hub, has already begun operations and now has three international all-cargo routes to Dhaka, Budapest, and Los Angeles. The province continues to expand the "one circle, two corridors, one belt, multiple points" international route network, aiming to reach 70 international all-cargo routes and 35 countries (regions) by 2030, while striving for more than 50 truck flights. It will promote the replication of experience in mutual recognition of security checks at advance cargo stations, extend port functions further into industrial parks, and let enterprises enjoy the convenience of air export right at their doorstep.
Digital Trade Port Serves as the Link to Connect Data Chains and Realize Multi-Port Integration
Seaports, land ports, and airports are visible physical hubs, while the digital trade port is an invisible digital link. The "four-port" coordination is not a simple addition of ports and yards; its core is to break down data barriers between different transport modes and connect scattered terminals, yards, and cargo stations into a complete supply chain network. Not long ago, the country's first imported grain "sea-river-rail" multimodal transport business landed in Zhoushan. A batch of Brazilian imported soybeans arrived in Wuhan via Zhoushan river-sea direct vessels, then moved by rail directly to Meishan, Sichuan. The nearly 3,000-kilometer journey took only 11 days, shortening time by 6 to 7 days compared with the traditional model and reducing comprehensive logistics costs by 15%. Relying on the online supervision platform for imported grain river-sea direct transport, dispatchers in Zhoushan and Chengdu tracked cargo movements in real time, achieving digital-intelligent coordination among sea, river, and rail transport modes.
"In the past, sea, river, and rail each had their own ledgers and managed their own processes. To complete cross-modal transport, enterprises needed to coordinate with multiple units. Now digital platforms string the processes together," said a staff member from the Zhoushan Port and Shipping and Port Authority.
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, Zhejiang will iteratively upgrade the four-port smart logistics cloud platform, build the "four-port smart transport" large model, construct a unified multimodal transport service portal, promote the Jinhua-Yiwu "sixth port area" and the through bill of lading logistics model, expand logistics services such as "sea-rail intermodal + ocean express" and "river-sea direct + Yangtze train," promote "one-order" services featuring "one entrustment, one container to the end, one settlement," accelerate the cultivation of integrated logistics providers, explore door-to-door full-process logistics services, and drive the coordinated flow of goods, information, and capital, letting data travel instead of enterprises and truly releasing the cost-reduction and efficiency-enhancing dividends of multimodal transport.
"In 'four-port' coordination, physical infrastructure connectivity is only the first step; the real deep-level transformation is the mutual exchange of data and rules. Seaports handle ocean shipping, land ports reach Asia and Europe, airports guarantee urgent cargo, and the digital trade port coordinates the entire chain. These four functions complement each other and jointly build Zhejiang's resilient and diversified international logistics system," said an industry expert.
Standing at the new starting point of the "15th Five-Year Plan," Zhejiang will continue to strengthen the seaport as the leader, consolidate the land port foundation, polish the airport's distinctive features, and connect the digital trade port as a link. It will advance infrastructure, corridors, networks, and digital platforms in an integrated manner, continuously improve hub functions that link the globe and radiate across the country, transform comprehensive transport advantages into opening-up competitive advantages, and build a solid transport foundation for a high-level open province.