China's logistics goes smart
The age of technology blurs the line between the impossible and the real. Logistics today is no longer just about moving goods – it is a complex symphony of automation, artificial intelligence and precision, where every component works as a single mechanism. Innovations not only accelerate processes but also overcome geographical barriers, delivering fresh produce from mountain villages to major cities within hours.
In Zhenning County, Guizhou Province in southwest China, the peak season for the harvest and sale of local honey plums is currently underway. Express delivery companies have partnered with fruit producers, bringing sorting and packaging directly to the orchards. Using drones and shuttle conveyors, they have created an integrated delivery system that combines collection and sorting with direct dispatch. This innovation addresses previous challenges such as farmers transporting goods down steep mountain slopes, excessive handling and significant product loss. "After farmers pack the fruit, drones first deliver the plums to a collection point at the foot of the mountain, then trucks take them to a sorting centre for dispatch. This allows honey plums from Zhenning, harvested and packed on the same day, to be sent via drones, creating a fast fresh-produce transport channel," said Lai Junnan, a drone specialist from a local logistics company.
To tackle issues such as labour‑intensive sorting and delays from secondary redistribution, companies have introduced intelligent automated sorting machines, established dedicated delivery routes and improved direct links to airports. "The automated sorting machines operate on six delivery routes that send goods directly to the corresponding airports for rapid dispatch. These direct routes have significantly reduced sorting time compared to previous years – we have cut it by more than half a day," said Liu Banglei, business director of a local logistics firm.
Meanwhile, the deployment of unmanned delivery vehicles has significantly reduced delivery times, especially in rural and remote areas. "Previously, our area was fairly remote, and parcels often arrived late. However, since we started using unmanned vehicles, delivery times have improved greatly. Now we can pick up our parcels by noon – much faster than before," said Li Hongbao, a resident of Pingchuan Township, Linjie County, Gansu Province in northwest China.
Logistics technology in China is advancing at a rapid pace. Unmanned delivery vehicles are now used daily in more than 200 cities, while drones handle nearly four million shipments a year. Many large sorting centres are fully automated, and smart warehouses use climbing robots and pallet‑moving robots for precise order picking. After packaging, parcels enter an automated system for weighing, scanning and bagging, completing the process in just 15 minutes. Electronic waybills have become widely adopted, and over 95 percent of long‑haul transport vehicles are equipped with BeiDou satellite navigation systems. As CCTV+ reports. These information‑technology advances continue to boost efficiency, increase delivery success rates and improve user satisfaction year on year.
