One year anniversary of railway freight reform: from railway boss to shop assistant

Since the implementation of the freight reform one year ago, Jinan Railway Bureau has conducted on-site research on the needs of shippers, helped them calculate logistics costs, and significantly improved container transportation

Iron boss brings reform to life (sample, hitting the forefront of reform)

Our reporter Pan Junqiang

On August 21st at 21:24, at Zibo Railway Depot Nongzhong Railway Station. The container train bound for Huangdao Port departed on time. The container transportation revenue for this period from March 1st to August 20th reached 212.648 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 73.1%.

In the past year of railway freight reform, the railway system has shifted from passively entering the market at the beginning of the reform to actively adapting to and exploring the market, transforming from a "railway boss" waiting for delivery to a "shop assistant" picking up goods at home. This year, market awareness has penetrated into the railway freight sector. In order to further integrate into the market, attract shippers, and develop sources of goods, Jinan Railway Bureau has developed a set of "martial arts secrets" for independent market entry in container transportation.

Targeted delivery of freight budget plans lower than road transportation to target enterprises

Improving container transportation is an important condition for integrating railway freight into modern logistics systems. The person in charge of the Freight Marketing Department of Jinan Railway Bureau introduced that in container business, they adhere to market operation, project management, establish container project teams, and define responsibilities and powers.

The key to market-oriented operation is marketing. In the past, we had to wait for the goods to arrive, but now we have to go out and 'activate' them, "said Liu Hongqing, deputy section chief of Zibo Car Depot, who took the lead in the pilot project. When we first started working on container transportation projects, it may seem close to the market, but in reality it is still quite far away. The container transportation market needs to be explored.

Yuan Guoqiang is a member of the container project team at Zibo Railway Depot. As the head of the marketing and logistics department at Zibo Railway Depot of Jinan Railway Bureau, he has a deep understanding of market-oriented operations and project management. Pushing a group of people who don't understand the market and marketing hard into the market. The 'big and rough' style of the railway boss is also exposed, "Yuan Guoqiang said. Some people go to shippers who have business dealings with the railway to solicit business. If they don't give the new business to the railway, they won't do the previous business either, forcing them to take over the business instead of considering how to make shippers more convenient to book containers, help enterprises reduce logistics costs and other market services.

Only by conducting on-site research on the needs of shippers and calculating logistics costs can we truly integrate into the market. The group members conducted extensive market research, not only understanding the supply volume of local construction ceramics market, Boxing steel market, Dongying container freight market and other markets in Zibo, but also completing the investigation of road freight costs in 10 days. Cost estimation is conducted for different railway and highway routes, and with these estimation sheets, price reductions are made within the allowable range of railway freight rates. It is clear which area has cost advantages, and targeted freight budget plans lower than road transportation are delivered to target enterprises.

It is gratifying that with the efforts of all parties, Zibo Depot has launched direct container transportation trains. Liu Hongqing gave an example, saying that trains from Nongzhong Station in Zibo to Huangdao Station in Qingdao West Railway Depot used to need to be grouped and uncoupled, and had to stop and wait for goods from several stations along the way. Now, they arrive directly at their destination without stopping in between. It used to take one or two days, but now it only takes five hours to arrive.

The Jinan Railway Bureau, through cooperation with Fushan Group, has opened a direct train from Nongzhong to Huangdao. As of now, it transports approximately 500 containers and 20000 tons of goods per week. The transportation cost of each container of goods exported through here has been reduced by 250 yuan, which is highly favored by shippers and has become a brand for Jinan Railway Bureau to compete for goods.

Computer automatic container sorting eliminates human interference and optimizes container utilization

Before, if it weren't for the 'old customers' of the railway, it would have been difficult to book containers, "said a new shipper who successfully booked containers online.

In the past, manual container sorting often prioritized distributing boxes to acquaintances. On the one hand, familiarity with the shipper's business made it easier to pack boxes, and on the other hand, it was also considered to maintain customer relationships. "According to Meng Fanli, deputy director of the freight business department at Zibo Railway Station, those with good relationships can still receive boxes even with small quantities, while new shippers with large quantities may not have enough boxes to use. For railways that are being pushed to the market, although container resources are fully utilized, they have not captured major customers.

The automatic container sorting system developed by Jinan Railway Bureau has been piloted at Zibo Railway Station, which has also solved these problems. All shippers can participate in the system's automatic container sorting online and book containers with just a few clicks, which is very convenient.

It is reported that in the past, serving a single shipper required less than 4 manpower, and the planners, duty officers, directors, and secretaries collectively studied and approved, which was also prone to errors. Now, this system has greatly saved manpower and reduced error rates.

So, what should we do when the box is tight? Meng Fanli said that the system adopts a points system, and the larger the normal transportation volume, the higher the points. When the boxes are tight, those with high points will be given priority to the containers. If you are not nervous, this problem does not exist.

In March of this year, the freight center of Zibo Railway Station transported over 3200 containers. The automatic container sorting system showed its power as soon as it was launched that month, with an increase of more than the majority compared to 1570 containers in March last year. At present, the automatic container sorting system has been promoted and applied in the freight department under the jurisdiction of Jinan Railway Bureau.

Promote the integration of roads and ports, and increase efforts in sea rail intermodal transportation

The Qingdao Station Freight Center and Huangdao Station of Qingdao West Railway Depot under Jinan Railway Bureau are located near Qingdao Port, with a large volume of container imports and exports, and a broad market for sea rail intermodal transportation.

On the one hand, seize domestic trade resources. According to Mou Jinzhong, the station manager of Qingdao Station, in order to leverage their respective advantages and promote the integration of roads and ports, Qingdao Station has partnered with Qingdao Port Authority and four domestic container shipping companies to lower freight rates. As a result, with 9 domestic trade routes and 2 foreign trade liners docking at Qingdao Port, sea freight arrives at Qingdao Port and is transported to inland areas by railway, extending the logistics service chain from sea freight to railway and expanding new market space. After a year and a half of operation, the volume of sea rail intermodal containers from January to July 2014 was 2.4 times that of the entire year of 2013.

On the other hand, we are exploring the sea rail international intermodal transportation business by launching railway containers for transit. The Qingdao Station Freight Center, relying on the advantages of the port, has determined the operation mode of railway container launching, sea transportation to foreign ports, loading and returning to Qingdao Port, and then transit through foreign countries by railway transportation. It is reported that this project has been underway for half a year now, and Qingdao Station has shipped about 300 vehicles from the beginning of crossing the river by feeling the stones to now.

In order to reduce turnover time and port storage costs, the freight center has adopted the "vehicle waiting for cargo" operation mode. After confirming the expected arrival time of the container at the port, a fleet is dispatched in advance to wait, and after unloading the ship, the vehicle is directly transferred to the line yard. The procedures can be completed and shipped within 12 hours.

Where did my goods go? This is a concern for shippers. The Qingdao Station Freight Center has changed its previous practice of requiring shippers to independently or by phone to track containers. A dedicated person will be assigned to track the containers, inform the shippers of the vehicle numbers on which the containers are loaded, and notify them of the arrival location of the containers in a timely manner every day, bringing great convenience to container shippers. For the containers sent by sea rail intermodal transportation, Qingdao Station dispatched a dedicated person to Huangdao for transshipment and bill of lading operations, and handled the entire process on behalf of the company, solving the problem of setting up an agency office for non local companies in Qingdao.