A Transfar Zhilian employee uses an internet app to sort deliveries in the company's warehouse. (Photo provided to China Daily)
As online shopping has become increasingly popular in China in recent years, the express delivery business has been influencing people's lives more than ever.
"What many people don't necessarily know is that express delivery only accounts for about 10 percent of the country's whole logistics sector in terms of turnover," Li Shangqing, assistant to the president of Transfar Zhilian said. The company is a publicly traded subsidiary of Transfar Group based in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province.
As China is improving its manufacturing sector, upgrading related service industries could contribute significantly to accelerating the progress.
"The most important of these supporting industries is logistics," Li said.
Li Shangqing, assistant to the president of Transfar Zhilian. (Photo provided to China Daily)
Top of the company's list of ambitious plans for a bigger logistics business is building a smart logistics information system, which could be a game changer for its logistics business model, according to Zhou Shengxue, vice-president of Transfar Zhilian.
Established in 1986, Transfar Group is a company with diversified operations covering chemicals, logistics, agriculture, technology and investment, and ranks among the top 500 Chinese enterprises.
The group expanded its business from chemicals to logistics in 2003, when it owned more than 300 trucks, more than enough to meet its needs exclusively.
"Then we made the logistics service independent from the original businesses, so that we can also provide services to other manufacturers," Zhou said. He added that the company has been continuously innovating in the logistics business since that time.
Transfar has set up major logistics e-commerce platforms, which help corporate clients with freight demand to find logistics companies and vice versa.
One of them is called Lujing, which provides cargo shipment between cities. The other is called EHD, providing easily accessible logistics services online for inner-city deliveries.
"Traditional logistics services means truck drivers end up spending a lot of time waiting for customers and vice versa," Zhou said.
