Chinese express delivery firms tap Belt and Road markets

Countries along the Belt and Road Initiative routes are becoming new growth points for express delivery companies on the Chinese mainland.

Statistics from the State Postal Bureau of China show that Chinese mainland couriers handled a total of 170 million parcels across the border in the first quarter of 2017, up 29.8 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, their overseas business revenues hit 11.14 billion yuan(US$1.63 billion), up 19.8 percent.

The Vice-President of SF Express, Lin Zheying, said the company had built depots in Europe and set up branches in Southeast Asia after the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013. Its overseas business has maintained a remarkable average annual compound growth rate since then. The company now handles over 200,000 parcels a day to Russia, about 20 times the volume in 2014.

ZTO Express is planning to build storage facilities in countries along the Belt and Road.

More courier firms, including STO and Yunda, have been engaged in cross-border delivery services.

Zhai Kun, a professor of international relations at Peking University, said Chinese express delivery sector's internationalization was boosting the recovery of global trade.