Trends in sustainable logistics in major cities in China

“Smart cities” have become the development direction pursued by city leaders to address challenges related to rapid growth in urban areas. The sustainable development of the logistics sector has important practical significance for the evolution of smart cities. This study assessed the inefficiency rate and total factor productivity (TFP) of logistics in 36 Chinese cities from 2006 to 2015. The directional distance function (DDF) and Luenberger productivity index analytical approaches were used to assess the relevant parameters. The results revealed that the logistics system inefficiency rate of the eastern region was much higher than that of the central and western regions, while that of the western region was slightly higher than that of the central region. This study identified the main constraints of the logistics TFP in different regions in China. This finding is used to promote policy-making and investment planning to improve China's competitive advantage. The results documented that the central region of China needs to accelerate logistics reforms and use its location advantage of its location to form an organic connection with the eastern and western regions. Countries can use such metrics to take actions to improve their logistics performance, as such an improvement has a causal relationship with economic development.