Strategic Planning for Improving Nongreen Impact Factors of Traditional Coal Logistics in China

Abstract

China is a major coal producer and consumer. Coal accounts for approximately 70% of the primary energy structure. As a major energy source and industrial raw material in China, coal is mainly distributed in the northwest and less in the southeast. Major coal production and coal demand areas have a huge spatial difference. In recent years, the volume of coal transportation has increased rapidly due to the rapid growth of coal production in China, thereby promoting the development of the coal logistics industry in China. According to the 2017 China Coal Industry Operation Report, China's coal production in 2017 was 3.52 billion tons, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.3%. In addition, the national railway shipped a total of 2.16 billion tons of coal, representing an increase of 13.3%; the volume of coal shipment at major ports was 730 million tons, representing a year-on-year increase of 12.9% [1]. However, most coal enterprises in China are self-employed enterprises that adopt extensive coal logistics management and mining processes, which range from coal mining, washing, processing , storage, transportation, and sales to comprehensive waste utilization; these processes have serious impacts on the environment [2]. Geological disasters in mines occur frequently. The geological collapse caused by improper coal mining, washing, and distribution and the pollution of water and air resources also occur frequently. Therefore, the improvement of traditional coal logistics is imminent. Coal logistics systems comprise coal supply, production, sales, recycling, and waste logistics [3]; these processes are involved in the development preparation, production process, and sales activities of coal products. Traditional modes of logistics operations have remained to be the mainstream of coal logistics development, although many nongreen impact factors are involved in the process; thus, traditional coal logistics highly pollute the environment. This study focuses on the nongreen impact of coal logistics and the shortcomings of the operation of traditional coal logistics enterprises. Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch (TRIZ) theory is used to solve the shortcomings [4,5]. Therefore, this study first analyzes the important key problems in traditional coal logistics. Porter's five forces model is used to (1) analyze the competitiveness of coal logistics enterprises using traditional coal logistics methods, (2) analyze the key problems in traditional coal logistics, and