BEIJING - The State Council, China's cabinet, on Thursday released a guideline for reducing the cost and raising the efficiency of the logistics sector.

The logistics sector has a bearing on industrial restructuring, coordinated regional development, nurturing new sources of growth and raising overall economic efficiency, the guideline said.

The State Council assigned the tasks of cutting costs and raising efficiency to various central government departments, provincial-level governments and China Railway.

To improve road transport management, China will simplify approvals of licenses for heavy cargo transport to cross provincial regions by putting licenses online before the end of 2017.

The government will also establish an integrated nationwide cargo clearance system and cut cargo clearance time by one-third by the end of this year.

Fees and charges for logistics companies will be cleared to reduce their burden, the guideline said.
China will support logistics development in terms of urban planning and land use, and improve national-level logistics centers and railway services.

The government will also make logistics and storage facilities more information-based, standardized and also smarter.

The guideline added that supervision and inspection will be stepped up to find and solve problems during implementation.

Data from the National Development and Reform Commission showed China's logistics costs accounted for 14.9 percent of GDP in 2016, down by 1.1 percentage points from the previous year.

Although the ratio had dropped for four years in a row by 2016, it was still significantly higher than developed economies and some other developing economies.