(Photo/Xinhua)

Chinese postal and express delivery enterprises handled a total of 535 million parcels on Nov. 11, during the “Double 11” online shopping spree, three times more than the daily average in the second and third quarters of this year and up by 28.6 percent from a year earlier. Due to this, it has reached a new historical high, according to statistics released by China’s State Post Bureau.

The peak time of this year’s “Double 11” is expected to last between Nov. 11 to 18, during which the postal industry will handle 2.8 billion express parcels.

In order to maintain smooth and effective operations, the industry has temporarily hired nearly 400,000 employees and 120,000 vehicles, newly established 3.6 million square meters of work yards, and purchased over 3,000 sets of full- and semi-automatic sorting equipment.

Other than that, unattended warehouses, unmanned aerial vehicles, and autopilot vehicles have been massively produced and applied. A total of over 200 smart sorting centers have been established nationwide. Furthermore, warehouse and delivery robots are now busy working in different scenarios.

The country has deployed 380,000 smart parcel delivery lockers in urban regions, as well as 59,000 in rural areas.