From northwestern China to the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, spanning about 2,000 kilometers across the hinterland of China. Zhongtong cold chain's small-scale LTL business makes the high-mountain vegetables of the Qinling Mountains and the beef and mutton from the Ningxia grasslands “fresh and delivered” to dining tables in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region.
Zhongtong Cold Chain LTL business spans about 2,000 kilometers across China's hinterland from Northwestern to South China. It delivers high-mountain vegetables from the Qinling Mountains and beef and mutton from the Ningxia grasslands to dining tables in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region.
In Tai-bai County of Shaanxi province, which is located in the Greater Bay Area of South China, the production base of basket vegetables is surrounded by mountains and the cool breeze hits one's face even in midsummer. Looking up, one sees vast fields of bright green bok choy, lettuce and kale, etc. After picking, sorting, pre-cooling and packing, the vegetables from this mountainous region will appear on dining tables of citizens in Guangzhou, which is 1800 km away, after a 40-hour journey on Zhongtong's cold chain delivery truck.
'Our vegetables grown in high-mountain forests 'absorb' negative oxygen ions, and drink mountain spring water and have a taste of childhood,' said Ai Keping, chairman of Lülei Agriculture Professional Cooperative in Taibai County, adding that the base supplies various kinds of vegetables to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region every year, totaling about 2,000 tons, with an output value of over 8 million yuan.
It is reported that Zhongtong Cold Chain started cooperation with Lülei Modern Agricultural Park in Taibai County in early 2022, and now transports nearly 1,000 kilograms of vegetables to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region every month. 'We provide small-scale LTL service to reduce the transportation costs for customers' small-batch samples on one hand, and strictly ensure the entire 2℃~8℃ cold chain transportation on the other hand,' said Ge Pengfei, network management manager of Zhongtong Cold Chain in Shaanxi Province.
To meet the increasing demand of small-scale and multi-batch LTL market for cold chain products caused by flattened fresh supply chains, expansion and sinking of chain restaurants, and the rapid rise of new retail such as pre-cooked foods, Zhongtong Cold Chain has developed finely controlled processes to deliver services in different temperature zones, ensuring standardized transportation services that can be traced back to the entire journey and have real-time temperature monitoring. 'As long as the vegetables are on the truck, we are like pulling a refrigerator and the back-end system monitors the temperature changes in real-time, and will alert us of any abnormalities,' said Ge Pengfei.
With the rapid development of the new retail industry such as pre-cooked foods, and the expansion and sinking of chain restaurants as well as the flattening of the entire fresh supply chain, there is a gradual increase in demand for small-batch, multi-batch cold chain LTL delivery services. According to reports, the 'high-mountain vegetables' produced by Lülei Agricultural Professional Cooperative in Taibai County are mainly transported to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region in two forms: one is by whole-vehicle cold chain for large quantities of transportation; and the other is by small-scale LTL, usually for small-batch samples that are sent for testing. Zhongtong is responsible for this part of the business.
In addition to the vegetables from the Qinling Mountains, beef and mutton from Yinchuan, Ningxia, is also a frequent guest on dining tables of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region. 'We transport about 5 to 6 tons of Ningxia lamb meat to Shenzhen every month, most of which are orders from local restaurants,' said Shi Jianping, the head of the Zhongtong Cold Chain Ningxia Yinchuan Wuzhongli branch. It is reported that the Guangdong-Guangzhou logistics flow accounts for more than 20% of the Zhongtong cold chain Yinchuan distribution center and a large proportion is agricultural products from Ningxia.
It is learned that Zhongtong Cold Chain's 'small-scale LTL product' was launched in September 2022, which can meet the shipping needs of customers' 10 to 500 kg of cargo and provide accurate time, full-temperature control, multi-frequency, small-scale door-to-door LTL logistics service. 'Small-scale LTL cold chain service can help customers reduce inventory pressure, achieve small-scale, multi-frequency demand order, and help customers reduce transit distribution pressure, improve capital turnover, and optimize the company's operating model,' said Ge Pengfei.