Twenty years of cold chain

A gash has been torn open across the land of China.

The magnitude 8.0 earthquake was felt across most of China, and the powerful seismic waves circled the Earth six times!

The report at noon the following day showed that the earthquake had caused the deaths of more than 69,000 compatriots and injured more than 370,000 people.

The tragedy of China has brought grief to the entire nation.

Long lines of people lined the streets of Qingyan City to donate blood, tent manufacturers operated 24 hours a day, and people helped their compatriots in various ways!

Businesses from all over the country rushed to Wenchuan to provide aid!

Medicines, tents, quilts, drinking water, instant noodles, as well as life detectors, lifting air cushions, spreaders, and more—vehicles from all walks of life are constantly being sent to Wenchuan!

In an emergency response, the national reserve of frozen meat was transported from various warehousing companies to the disaster area.

That evening, ten refrigerated trucks from Tongxing set off, carrying fifty tons of semi-processed vegetables and twenty tons of pork to the disaster area. Meanwhile, a second batch of vehicles began to be dispatched. Various industrial parks in Qingnan and Qingbei provided assistance, and in just one day, more than two hundred vehicles departed from Qingning.

When the nation is in peril, people rush forward one after another. If you had eyes that could see the whole country, you would see the immense power and strength behind this! Natural disasters cannot crush people. The grandeur of the Chinese land and the spirit of everyone thinking of their compatriots are the unique national character of ours!

Large enterprises contributed their large efforts, small enterprises contributed their small efforts, and individuals donated generously, creating a powerful current of contributions from all sectors!

The phones of the people in charge of various departments in Tongxing were ringing off the hook because a large amount of donated supplies could not be distributed in time. Some shops wanted to donate water and noodles, and there were also supplies such as tents, quilts, candles, flashlights and blankets that were collected. The amount of spontaneous donations from the public was getting bigger and bigger.

Fewer and fewer vehicles were leaving, while more and more supplies were accumulating.

Everyone was eager to get their donations to the disaster area, but indiscriminate collection without any rules would only make the situation more chaotic and would also make it impossible to guarantee the efficiency of the vehicles. Under these circumstances, Hu Shutong contacted major logistics parks one by one, hoping to sit down together and discuss the matter of sending supplies to the disaster area.

Within half a day, Tongxing had gathered a large crowd. Everyone from the original dinner party was there, and the colleagues sat together again. Hu Shutong's dinner party hadn't been in vain; at the very least, it made these two meetings feel natural and smooth, since everyone was already familiar with each other.

Hu Shutong was the first to express his support, and Tongxing offered 20 vehicles for transportation. Chunrong, Tiansheng, Qingtong, and Hongli followed suit, bringing the total number of vehicles available for dispatch to over 100.

"President Hu, I think this matter should be handled in stages, starting with the counties. We should allocate resources to each county to avoid overlap and ensure efficiency. We can't afford to delay at this crucial juncture."

"I suggest that everyone mobilize all the transfer stations and send out the nearest available vehicles first, and then make internal transfers later."

"Medical equipment and blood bags are in very short supply right now, and the vehicles from Qingnan should be mainly responsible for cooperating with relevant departments to transport these items."

"That's right. We'll use Qingyan as a hub for local dispatch. Everyone has transfer stations in Qingnan and Qingbei. Those closer to Qingbei will collect supplies from various places, while those closer to Qingnan will transport medical equipment. We don't need to differentiate our main base; the key is to make the entire transportation system more efficient!"

"That's settled then! Since President Hu can provide twenty vehicles, we'll hand over all the supplies we've donated for the next round to Tongxing. Apart from Tongxing's supplies, the rest will all head south empty, collecting our supplies along the way. And our vehicles will all be used to collect all kinds of donated supplies."

"That's feasible! We'll move all the supplies to warehouses along the route, concentrating them near the Qingming Expressway exit as much as possible. This way, we won't waste time lingering in Qingnan; we can take the expressway diagonally and head directly towards the disaster area!"

During this meeting, Hu Shutong barely spoke, yet his efforts were already effective. In short, by organizing by vehicle and warehouse, without needing to meticulously identify each individual, everyone united, prioritizing transportation. This not only ensured the timely delivery of aid from various units but also transported supplies that were temporarily unable to leave different areas.

With everything in place, those in Qingning who owned vehicles began to share a common goal: "How can we work together to get our goods out of the country?" The front-end warehouses and transfer stations, which were originally part of their own expansion, suddenly found that they had a closer connection with their industry partners.

In the following days, a transportation effort centered around disaster relief began to unfold across Qingning, with companies in the industrial park breaking down barriers to the mobilization of supplies. To prevent Tongxing's vehicles from being delayed, various companies coordinated and allocated supplies, with large quantities of vegetables, fruits, and meats being collected at transfer stations regardless of who was in charge.

This makes one realize that truly powerful transportation is definitely not a matter for one company. What used to seem incredibly difficult for the industry to work together is now being demonstrated step by step, showing that connectivity is not actually that complicated.

We fail to form a network because we always perceive cooperation as encroachment and common ground as a threat. In reality, the sole essence of this path is accessibility, and we already had the foundation for mutual understanding long ago.

This disaster relief road has brought people together. It turns out that when we trust each other, we can achieve such a great thing!

In an instant, the landscape changed color, families were destroyed, and people died.

But we hear all the calls, and our hearts are united.

We are on the road, hope is on the road, majestic mountains and rivers, with you and me!

……

I've loved cold chain logistics for twenty years.