East China's Huzhou sees rapid development of logistics sector

Huzhou City in northern Zhejiang Province -- part of the vigorously developing Yangtze River Delta in east China -- has earned itself the reputation as the "logistics valley" of China, with rapid development of the logistics sector over recent years featuring green, smart and unmanned equipment manufacturing and operating systems development. According to customs data, in the first seven months of this year, the export of mechanical and electrical products from the Yangtze River Delta region hit 3.3 trillion yuan (about 460.6 billion U.S. dollars), up 7.7 percent year on year and accounting for 59.6 percent of the country's total.

Known as the "logistics valley" of China, Huzhou is the only pilot demonstration city of green and smart manufacturing in the country.

At an unmanned warehouse spanning 20,000 square meters in the city, a smart warehousing and logistics system works on its own to deliver 600 tons of goods daily from its 40,000 stocks.

The supplier of this intelligent operating system is a local enterprise and sales of its forklifts have ranked first in the world for 18 consecutive years in the field of light and small delivery vehicles.

At present, forklifts manufactured by the company are going unmanned.

"We have realized full-scale smart operation with our laser positioning technology, deploying the closest vehicle to do the right job. The improved efficiency may cut the number of forklifts needed from 50 to 40," said Zhou Minlong, deputy general manager of the smart logistics equipment company.

Full-scale smart operation of the warehouse not only relies on introduction of unmanned equipment like forklifts, but also the use of intelligent logistics integration systems, which makes it more economical and efficient.

So far, this smart logistics system has been applied on more than 2,000 projects in over 120 countries and regions.

"Green is the base color of Huzhou's development. In recent years, in order to develop new quality productive forces, Huzhou has introduced about 500 enterprises from the upstream and downstream of the intelligent logistics equipment industry chain, with the industry concentration ratio having exceeded 90 percent," said Shen Liangbiao, secretary general of Huzhou Municipal Logistics Equipment Association.

East China's Huzhou sees rapid development of logistics sector

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on Tuesday that the country possesses the technological infrastructure to make missiles with significantly longer ranges.

IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi made the announcement in an interview with the official news agency IRNA, stressing that a political decision needs to be made within the country regarding the production of such missiles.

Mohebbi noted that in any confrontation, Iran will unveil new weapons with new ranges, precision and destructive power, emphasizing that battlefield is the best place to test new weapons.

He said Iran recently tested a new missile on an aircraft carrier and a warship both belonging to the United States, adding the missile hit the aircraft carrier, which was within a range of 500 km.

Mohebbi explained that the strike did not disable the U.S. aircraft carrier, but caused damage to it, saying Iran maintains that the strike inflicted casualties, although the United States did not announce that.

Earlier this month, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Mohsen Rezaei told state-run IRIB TV that the country had carried out an important attack "within the preceding 48 hours" against a U.S. aircraft carrier as a warning to make the "enemy" know that its naval blockade is vulnerable.

IRGC says Iran has technological infrastructure to make missiles with far longer ranges