China has established a convenient transportation and logistics network that ensures the swift delivery of fresh products while maintaining their quality and freshness.
A satisfied customer named Bai from Shanghai, China, placed an online order for cherries from Dalian, Liaoning Province. To his delight, the cherries were delivered the following afternoon. Bai commented, “The delivery is so speedy, and the cherries are so fresh.”
After Bai placed his order, over 20 workers at a cherry orchard in Tuchengzi village, Lyushunkou district, Dalian, started picking cherries at 4:30 a.m. the next morning and completed the task in less than an hour. Due to the customers’ preference for next-day delivery, the cherries must be picked early in the morning, explained grower Zhang Shan.
Cherries are highly perishable, requiring careful handling due to their delicate skin. To address this, “our company has developed a refrigerated and well-perforated fruit crate that can keep the cherries fresh for 60 hours. It will be widely used in the future,” said Cao Jin, an executive of an SF Express branch in Liaoning, a leading courier enterprise in China.
At 6:55 a.m., the package was collected by a courier. “Our company has established village-level e-commerce pick-up stations in rural areas, reducing the delivery time for each parcel by at least two hours,” said Guo Ximing, manager of the Baiyu branch of SF Express in Dalian.
Approximately two and a half hours later, trucks carrying 14 tonnes of cherries, including Bai’s order, arrived at Zhoushuizi International Airport in Dalian. The cherries were placed on an automated delivery sorting line and distributed to planes heading to various destinations.
Yu Yongquan, an executive of an SF Express branch at the airport, highlighted the latest sorting equipment that was put into use in February. The new machine can sort 1,500 kg of cherries per hour, increasing efficiency by 30 percent.
SF Express has opened a green channel for bulk orders of fresh products and arranged cargo planes for transportation. Since June, the cargo planes have been transporting nearly 200 tonnes of cherries daily. Yu estimated that 7 million parcels will be shipped during this year’s cherry season, a 40 percent increase compared to the previous year.
At 12:44 p.m., the plane carrying the cherries landed in Shanghai. In less than two and a half hours, the fresh cherries were delivered to Bai.
According to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP), social logistics rose by 4.5 percent year-on-year to 129.9 trillion yuan ($17.95 trillion) from January to May. Key logistics companies have large automated sorting facilities and smart logistics parks capable of handling up to 10 million parcels per day.
“As China continues to develop a three-tiered rural logistics network at the county, township, and village levels, more villages will have e-commerce pick-up stations. In the future, a growing number of farm produce will be shipped nationwide, catering to people’s desire for an improved quality of life,” observed Wang Yuehan, an official from the development research center of the State Post Office.
