Seven major actions launched in the transportation sector to promote large-scale renewal of equipment

Recently, thirteen departments including the Ministry of Transport issued the Plan of Action to Launch a Large-scale Renewal of Transportation Equipment (hereinafter referred to as the Plan of Action). Seven major actions have been proposed, includingthe replacement of urban buses with electric vehicles, the elimination and renewal of aged commercial diesel trucks, the retirement and renewal of aged commercial vessels, the elimination and renewal of old locomotives, the replacement of outdated postal and express equipment, the renewal and transformation of logistics facilities and equipment, and the enhancement of standards. These actions aim to vigorously promote the application of advanced equipment and BeiDou terminals, facilitate the clean, low-carbon, and efficient development of transportation energy systems, and advance the green and low-carbon transformation of the industry in an orderly manner.

According to the Plan of Action, by 2028, China’s ship capacity will be effectively improved, the promotion and application of new energy buses will continue to advance, the elimination of aged locomotives in key regions will be nearly completed with large-scale replacement by new energy locomotives, intelligent mail and express security inspection equipment will be widely promoted to significantly enhance security inspection capabilities in the delivery sector, the application of BeiDou terminals will be further strengthened, and the carbon emission intensity and pollutant emission intensity in the transport sector will continue to decrease with total pollutant emissions further reduced.

The Plan of Action encourages the renewal of aged new energy buses and power batteries, actively promotes compact buses, low-floor and low-entry urban buses, and encourages local authorities to accelerate the renewal of urban buses that are 10 years old or above. It also calls for the accelerated elimination and renewal of aged commercial diesel trucks and the orderly adoption of new energy commercial trucks. It encourages local authorities to promote the use of new energy commercial trucks in urban logistics and distribution, port collection and distribution, and trunk logistics on the basis of the characteristics of the road freight industry, regional industrial environment, and new energy supply capacity.

In terms of operating vessels, the Plan of Action clearly calls for accelerating the retirement and renewal of high energy consumption and high emissions aged transport vessels and strongly supporting the development of new energy and clean energy-powered transport vessels. It emphasizes the research and development of key, common, and cutting-edge core technologies, including high-performance LNG engines, high-power alcohol-fuel engines, and high-energy-density and high-safety-performance power batteries, to enhance the supply capacity of new energy vessel equipment. It supports the construction of new energy and clean energy-powered vessels, the development of international shipping vessels powered by green methanol, green ammonia, and other fuels, the application of LNG and biodiesel-powered vessels on eligible coastal and inland waterway routes, and the pilot applications of pure battery on small and medium-sized inland vessels for short-distance routes. It calls for improving the supporting infrastructure for new energy and clean energy-powered transport vessels and accelerating the development of a convenient and comprehensive infrastructure network.

The Plan of Action proposes to accelerate the elimination of old locomotives and specifies that the operational lifespan for the retirement of old railway diesel locomotives is 30 years. It calls for the establishment of an exhaust pollutant emission testing system for locomotives and strengthening dynamic tracking and management of locomotive operating conditions and exhaust emissions. Relying on the development of new locomotive products such as the Fuxing series, it advocates for the use of technologies like high-power batteries, next-generation diesel engines, internal electric dual-source systems, hydrogen power systems, and low-carbon/zero-carbon fuel engines to promote the upgrade and renewal of aged diesel locomotives.

The Plan of Action supports the renewal of outdated postal and express security inspection equipment, enhances the application of modern information technologies in security inspection, and promotes the shift towards information-based and intelligent management in security work. It also promotes the renewal of last-mile delivery vehicles for postal and express services, supports the elimination and replacement of a batch of transportation and last-mile delivery vehicles, and encourages enterprises to widely use new energy unmanned delivery vehicles in areas that meet the requirements to improve mail and express transfer efficiency. It also encourages postal and express enterprises to eliminate outdated sorting equipment at major mail and express handling facilities and replace them with fully automated intelligent sorting systems.

The Plan of Action encourages the upgrading and transformation of multimodal transport stations and transshipment facilities within national logistics hubs, national key cold chain logistics bases, national-level demonstration logistics parks, and suburban warehouse bases, as well as the acceleration of the advancement of smart logistics hubs and the intelligent transformation of logistics parks. It calls for strengthening the energy consumption, emissions, and technical standard upgrades for operational vehicles and vessels, and establishing a standard system for new energy locomotives and their supporting projects.

The Plan of Action outlines corresponding support policies, proposes to formulate detailed implementation rules for subsidies for the retirement and renewal of old commercial vehicles and vessels, and specifies the subsidy scope, standards, procedures, regulatory requirements, and departmental responsibilities. It emphasizes to continuously provide subsidies for the retirement and renewal of old commercial vehicles and vessels and include eligible equipment renewal projects within the scope of support from central government funds. It encourages regions with the necessary conditions to integrate the central government’s urban transport development reward funds to support the renewal of new energy urban buses and power batteries. It also calls for increased financial support and the use of policy tools such as technology innovation and technological renovation re-loans to incentivize financial institutions to strengthen their support for the technological transformation and equipment renewal in the transport sector.