Couriers rise to occasion

Delivers due to expand by as much as 50 percent this year, say experts

Express delivery firms said they were ready to handle a record high number of parcels on Singles' Day, the unofficial Chinese festival that falls on Nov 11, as the resulting shopping boom has put a high demand on courier services.

The day, also known as double 11, is a new twist on Valentine's Day, with bachelors celebrating single life across the country.

The expressmen with Shentong Express are sorting the mails in Beijing. Increasing sellers have participated in the Singles' Day festival and an estimated 400 million parcels will be delivered during the festival, a record 50 percent increase over last year. [Photo/China Daily]

But rather than try to find a partner on the day, singles are surfing the Internet on what has become a national online shopping spree.

To meet the surge in business, delivery firms such as Shanghai-based Shentong Express Co and SF Express Co said they had planned months ahead to meet the projected demand, introducing various ways to give customers quicker deliveries.

Lin Xinjian, director of the logistics operation center of Shentong in Beijing, said the company invested more than 20 million yuan to build a warehouse covering 10,000 sq m that can handle more than half a million parcels.

Measures such as recruiting 1,000 extra staff members and adding 300 vehicles to the fleet are also part of the company's plan to handle the large influx of orders, he said.

Last year, the Shanghai-based company - of which 80 percent of its business comes from Alibaba Group, along with Taobao.com and Tmall.com - shipped more than 8 million items on double 11 day.

"It is already a miracle, but the figure will be doubled this year," said Lin, who has had only a few hours of sleep a night recently as he supervises each step in the distribution and dispatch process to prevent a full warehouse.

An estimated 400 million parcels will be delivered during the festival, a record 50 percent increase over last year, according to data released by the China Express Service Association.