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Since the 1980s, with the integration of the regional economy, inter-regional business activities have become increasingly frequent in China. Improving regional logistics to facilitate high-quality inter-regional flows of logistics, information and capital has become vital for strengthening regional development. The level of regional logistics highly impacts the growth of the regional and national economies. According to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, the logistics sector revenue was 13.3 trillion yuan (1.99 trillion USD) in 2018, accounting for 14.8% of GDP (China Daily, 2019/03/26). A low level of regional logistics could impede the development of the local economy (Qiao, 2017; Li & Li, 2020; Can et al., 2021). Evaluation level of regional logistics is needed for researchers and government to better understand the current status of regional logistics and propose policies to promote the long-term development of the regional economy.
Many factors can influence regional logistics, including logistics infrastructures, information, economy, and human factors (Tian & Zhang, 2019). However, only limited studies explore the most important factors. Scholars evaluate regional logistics in combination with relevant factors, such as assessment of regional logistics efficiency (Cao et al., 2019; Zheng et al., 2020), regional logistics capability and competitive evaluation (Zou et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020). However, in terms of region, most studies focus on the Yangtze River Delta, western regions of China and all provinces of China (Dai & Fan, 2018; Wang et al., 2021), and lack of analysis of central China. In addition, the logistics industry has an important impact on the environment, social and economy. Sustainability plays a critical role in regional development of cities (Vitiea & Lim, 2019). With more people realizing the importance of sustainability, the sustainable regional logistics has attracted the scholars’ attention. For instance, Zhou (2021) focused on the collaboration level of ecology and regional logistics.
Only after understanding the regional logistics state can we better make pertinent policies to promote the long-term development of regional logistics. As one of the six provinces in central China, Jiangxi has distinctive geographical advantages. It is the only province connecting the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Fujian Delta (Luo et al., 2017). However, the logistics level in Jiangxi province is low compared with other regions of central China (Wu, 2013). The development of regional logistics can maximize Jiangxi's location advantages. Therefore, this study evaluates the level of regional logistics in Jiangxi, a province in southeast central China. In 2017, the total sales of social logistics in Jiangxi were 5.543 trillion yuan (830 million USD), with an annual growth rate of 8.4 percent. Similarly, the volume of cargo also increased by 12.3 percent annually. During the past 30 years, Jiangxi's railway, waterway, highway, aviation and other logistics infrastructures have been constantly improved, and the transport capacity has been effectively improved (Zhong & Zhu, 2019). Figure 1 provides the overall logistics infrastructures of the 11 major cities of Jiangxi province in China, which includes the main railway, highway and waterway in the province.
Figure 1. Transportation logistics map of Jiangxi province