China Transforms the Trucking Business
There's a better way.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergTravel to the edge of any Chinese city and eventually you'll find a parking lot full of idling trucks and suffocating diesel emissions. In bigger cities, such as Shanghai, these lots sprawl for tens of acres and can lead to paralyzing traffic jams when they overflow. Even as China embraces ride sharing and delivery drones, and builds vast networks of airports and high-speed rail, it still depends on long-haul trucks to carry 80 percent of its cargo.
It's a dirty, low-tech and inefficient industry. But with an estimated market value of $750 billion, it's not going away any time soon. Instead, technology is transforming it. This week, China's two largest apps for delivering Uber-like services for truckers and cargo owners agreed to merge. The resulting $2 billion behemoth is likely to reduce delays, cut down on pollution and improve life for the country's 30 million truck drivers. It may also be the first step in creating a revolutionary new transportation system.