An aerial view of cold-chain warehouses in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/Tide News]

Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang province has been selected for inclusion in China's latest list of national backbone cold-chain logistics bases, according to a recent announcement by the National Development and Reform Commission on June 9.

With this addition, Zhejiang now hosts six national-level cold-chain logistics bases in Zhoushan, Ningbo, Jiaxing, Taizhou, Wenzhou, and Hangzhou.

As of the end of 2024, these six hubs had built a combined cold storage capacity of 4.68 million cubic meters and attracted 5,272 upstream and downstream enterprises.

The Hangzhou base, located in Yuhang district, has become a key node for regional agriculture product circulation. Anchored by 10 major wholesale markets, it has attracted 3,996 fresh produce traders and 220 transportation and express delivery companies.

The growth of cold-chain infrastructure reflects Zhejiang's rising capacity to deliver high-quality, temperature-controlled logistics services, which are essential for meeting consumer demand for fresh and premium goods.

In Jiaxing, for example, partnerships are forming with major Russian king crab distributors and the largest fruit market in East China. The base is projected to handle nearly 30,000 metric tons of imported chilled seafood, 1 million tons of fruit, 300,000 tons of meat, and 50,000 tons of edible aquatic animals annually.