Local governments straighten out “last mile” of rural logistics, help unleash consumption potential

Local governments across China have rolled out multiple measures to ensure “last mile” logistics in rural areas, helping to release the consumption potential of rural residents and boost sales of agricultural products.

Photo taken on Nov. 6, 2020 shows a national-level comprehensive freight yard under construction in Gaoxing township, southwest China's Sichuan Province. (People's Daily Online/Qiu Haiying)

In Liupanshui City, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, the local postal administration is handling parcels in rural areas using water routes.

In the past, express packages were not able to reach remote villages like Shenjia village in Zangke town in the city’s Liuzhite district, which is isolated geographically by a cliff and a river, leading to relatively high transportation costs and low cargo volumes and shipping frequencies.

“I had to fetch my parcels at the seat of the town government by boat and usually must wait until a boat had 40 passengers on board,” villager Chen Yulun said, noting that villagers had little desire to shop online due to the poor logistics.

“I also had to rent a vehicle to pick up cargo of larger sizes,” Chen said, adding that it took people half an hour to drive from the village to the seat of the town government.

Things began to change in April this year, when parcels were directly delivered to the village’s wharf with the help of the Liuzhi branch of China Post in Liupanshui.

“We went out of our way to meet villagers’ needs for better express delivery services, renting boats to deliver parcels to Shenjia village and six other nearby villages,” said Lai Guangwu, deputy general manager of the branch, adding that the branch also encourages private car owners in rural areas to handle parcels.

“It’s so convenient after express delivery services became available in our village. I even bought a fridge online,” Chen Yulun said excitedly, explaining that she now often buys goods online.

So far, the branch of China Post in Liupanshui has extended the reach of its delivery services to encompass all of the city’s 114 towns. Meanwhile, the city’s postal administration has encouraged a cooperative model between post offices and express companies in order to make express delivery services available in rural areas and boost rural vitalization.

Similarly, the postal administration of Handan City in north China’s Hebei Province has also promoted cooperation between post offices and express companies while encouraging them to provide services together at express delivery service stations in villages.

Wang Junling, 34, a store owner in Huadian village, Cheng’an County in the city is excited about the convenience and benefits brought about by the improvements to express delivery services.

In collaboration with the local branch of China Post in the county, several years ago Wang turned part of her store into an express delivery service station and now helps villagers to purchase goods and pay utility bills online.

Since last April, five major express delivery companies, including YTO Express and STO Express, have also handled parcels at Wang’s station, transforming the station into an express service center.

Now the center handles over 200 packages daily on average and has boosted the sale of products in Wang’s store, as villagers will often buy something when they send or receive packages at the store. “The daily turnover at my store exceeds 2,000 yuan,” Wang said.

In Anyuan County in east China’s Jiangxi Province, part of a smart logistics express project came into service. The project will consist of one county-level logistics center, 18 township base stations, and 152 village-level base stations.

Under the project, 100 kilograms of agricultural products loaded on a shuttle robot, such as navel oranges and sweet potatoes, can be shipped from a village-level base station to a township base station along a cableway with a designed top speed of 60 kilometers per hour.

“Thanks to the project, we can ensure 24-hour delivery services. Now we transport more and more agricultural products to the rest of China,” said Zeng Zhenyu, a staff member at an e-commerce center in Hezi town located in the county.

“This year, the e-commerce turnover is expected to surpass 2.5 billion yuan in Anyuan, and delivery firms will handle 19 million express packages, up 3 million from a year earlier,” said Chen Gangjin, deputy head of Anyuan’s e-commerce service center.

During the January to August period of 2021, China’s delivery industry handled 28 billion parcels in rural areas, a jump of more than 30 percent from a year earlier, according to statistics from the country’s State Post Bureau. The parcels included farm produce bound for the urban market and industrial products to be sold in rural areas. These products were valued at 1.4 trillion yuan (about $219.5 billion).