In 2018, China delivered over 50 billion packages, accounting for more than half of world's total. This means each Chinese person had 36 packages delivered on average.
Automatic sorting lines, refrigerated vehicles and low labor costs fuel the fast growth of China's express delivery.
Chinese express companies will deliver more and more packages not only for China but also for the whole world.
BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- In 2018, China delivered more than 50 billion packages, more than half of the world's total. China has topped the world in the number of package deliveries for five consecutive years.
How does China deliver so many packages every year?
China's express delivery volume reached 50.71 billion pieces in 2018, more than the advanced economies of the United States, Japan and Europe combined. The average annual growth rate between 2010 and 2018 was 46.9 percent.
In 2018, each Chinese person had 36 packages delivered on average. Express delivery has become an indispensable part of life in China.
What changes has express delivery brought to China?
1.4 billion Chinese are spread over 9.6 million square kilometers. But even in the most remote rural areas express delivery service can reach 95.22 percent of them.
In 2018, China's rural areas received and sent a total of 12 billion express items. More and more agricultural produce is being shipped out. Industrial goods from cities are being sent to the countryside and goods from the countryside are being sent to cities.
In 2018, China's express delivery volume reached 50.71 billion pieces and each Chinese person had 36 packages delivered on average. (Xinhua)
In 2018, more than 700 billion yuan worth of industrial goods and farm produce were delivered in this way.
In the manufacturing sector, there are about 940 million deliveries every year. The express delivery service industry directly contributed about 226.97 billion yuan to the total output value of the manufacturing sector.
How are the 50 billion packages accurately delivered?
At the moment, China's daily processing capacity of express delivery packages is 140 million. The record is 420 million pieces per day. Fast and accurate delivery is a big task.
In 2018, China had 232 large automatic sorting centers for express delivery.
Fully automatic sorting lines can save manpower by 40 percent and improve operation efficiency by 50 percent. Advanced robots are used to sort packages with certain algorithms They can reduce manpower by 50 to 70 percent.
Robots sort parcels at the sorting center of an express delivery company in Yingdong Economic Development Zone of Fuyang, east China's Anhui Province, Nov. 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Wang Biao)
Express delivery enterprises have built a huge logistics network.
For example, refrigerated vehicles are equipped with temperature control technology, which can connect information with central operating agencies through the Internet of Things in real time.
What has made express delivery cost so low in China?
The average delivery fee in the United States is about five times that in China. Behind this is China's low labor costs.
Chinese couriers earn an average of 880 U.S. dollars a month, less than a third of that in the United States. China has about 3 million couriers and employs 200,000 people every year.
In spite of rising labor costs in China, compared to other developing countries, the quality of China's human resources is higher, thanks to higher education levels.
Deliveryman Yang Hongyi loads packages at a distribution site in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 15, 2019. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)
The fast development of China's delivery sector shows that its advantage in human resources will offer more potentials for investment.
Chinese express companies have built warehouses in more than 50 countries and regions, thus facilitates cross-border online retail of about 50 billion U.S. dollars each year. In the future, they will deliver more and more packages for the world.■
