China's express deliveries account for 40% of global market share

Nearly 40 billion packages were delivered by express delivery services in China last year, accounting for 40% of the total number of packages delivered worldwide, said Ma Junsheng, head of the State Post Bureau. The number of packages delivered in China exceeds that of the United States, Japan, and the EU combined, added Ma.

Robots are busy sorting parcels at the unmanned intelligent warehouse of JD.com in Shanghai. [Photo: CCTV]

Express delivery services in China cover 87% of the vast rural areas of the country, enabling nearly 600 million farmers to enjoy online shopping. This is possible thanks to advancements in the technology of package sorting and transport.

For example, Shanghai is home to the world's first unmanned intelligent warehouse. The warehouse, belonging to online store JD.com, employs up to 460 robots to sort and prepare parcels for delivery.

Robots are busy sorting parcels at the unmanned intelligent warehouse of JD.com in Shanghai. [Photo: CCTV]

During last year's "Double 11" shopping spree, the intelligent system calculated that 300 robots were needed to process the orders expected on the day. When crunch time arrived, the system calculated 68 billion routes every 0.2 seconds to select the best one for the robots travelling around a one square kilometer platform.

This was the first time that technology such as this was used in China, said Wu Kaixuan, general designer of JD.com's unmanned intelligent warehouse.

Robots are busy sorting parcels at the unmanned intelligent warehouse of JD.com in Shanghai. [Photo: CCTV]