Five ministries have launched a joint crackdown on exorbitant highway tolls after state media accused operators of earning staggering profits and adding to inflation by pushing up transport costs. Many expressway companies are jointly owned by regional authorities, which have resisted the central government’s crackdowns as they consider the tolls to be an important revenue source. Logistics costs in China last year accounted for about 18% of gross domestic product (GDP), twice the average for developed countries. Last year, the average profit margin of 19 highway companies listed on the Shanghai stock exchange was 35.5%, according to their annual reports. That ranks them alongside oil companies, securities firms and real estate developers. The average income of employees of the Ningbo-Shanghai expressway is about CNY8,000 a month, several times the local average. Its gross profit margin on highway tolls last year was 74%. Professor Zhao Jian of Beijing Jiaotong University said that the government “should change the highway companies […] to special enterprises with little or no profit, as roads and transport infrastructure shouldn’t be a private tool for money making.”