A digital platform “Shangyuntong” has been officially launched in China to serve supply chains with a unified bill of lading for international multimodal transportation.

📅 31 October 2025

📍 Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province.

Source: Alliance of International Freight Railway Express (IFREA).

The launch event took place at the International Logistics Park of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Lianyungang, marking the national system of the “single document” moving into practical application. Participants included the China International Freight Forwarders Association (CIFA), the Container Train Operators Union China-Europe Railway Express, transport, financial and insurance organisations, as well as international logistics companies and business representatives. As part of the event, cooperation agreements were signed and the new platform was officially presented.

The creation of a unified bill of lading for international multimodal transport is one of China’s key innovations in simplifying freight movement along China–Europe routes.

The model is based on the principle of “single instruction, one document for the entire route and full responsibility for the entire process”, which allows to eliminate document-flow complexity, guarantee transparency of responsibility, and create an institutional basis for integration of all transport stages.

The “Shangyuntong” platform integrates different modes of transport - rail, sea, road and air - and offers clients intelligent logistics solutions along the entire supply chain. The system provides booking, forwarding, issuance of multimodal bills of lading by CIFA acting as the document of title, as well as financial and settlement operations via a single interface.

Today the project has developed a number of standardised international multimodal transport routes, including:

- the “New Eurasian Continental-Maritime Transport Corridor” (rail-sea link);

- “Lianyungang – Central Asia – Tashkent”;

- “China (domestic segment) – Kashgar – Kyrgyzstan”;

- “Russia – Manchuria – China (domestic segment)”.

The service model of the platform covers the full spectrum of services: organisation of transport, document flow, information support, settlements and payments, supply-chain financing and additional analytical services.

By implementing the principle of “one instruction – full responsibility”, the system ensures unified pricing, simplifies logistics processes and offers companies financing tools secured by the bill of lading.

At the conference a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on Transit Cargo Documents, the development of multimodal bills of lading by CIFA and the support of sustainable development of international rail container transport.

According to CIFA Secretary-General Cui Jiago, the launch of “Shangyuntong” is an important step in developing logistics infrastructure under the Belt & Road Initiative. He noted that the project promotes increased efficiency, environmental friendliness and sustainability of the transport-logistics sector, reduces overall logistics costs and strengthens China’s position as a leading player in world trade.