Cainiao Smart Logistics Network has announced that it will start a new international shipping route in August to speed up average delivery times between China and Europe by over 30%.
Launched with air-freight carrier, Volga-Dnepr Group, the new route is aimed at addressing the boom in demand for cross-border deliveries amid Covid-19. From August, VDG-owned AirBridgeCargo Airlines will operate three flights each week from Hong Kong to Madrid via Belgium’s Liege Airport.
According to Cainiao, all goods shipped through the new route will arrive at warehouses in Europe in three to 10 days, versus the industry average of 15 to 20 days.
The expedited delivery time is thanks in part to Cainiao’s line-haul network. The company’s intra-Europe trucking network utilises algorithms to generate loading plans and transportation routes for its fleet. The network connects the warehouses and transport hubs in Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Last-mile logistics partners, such as Spain’s Correos, then help deliver parcels to customers.
Tatyana Arslanova, executive operating officer at VDG, said since the start of the Cainiao partnership in 2018, both parties have worked closely to develop faster and more-flexible digital solutions and expand their networks.
The expanded air capacity comes as Cainiao continues to develop smart-logistics infrastructure for Europe. In 2018, Alibaba and the Belgian Government established one of the first Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) hubs in the region, helping digitise Liege Airport’s customs-clearance and logistics operations and streamline international shipping. During the coronavirus outbreak, the eWTP hub also supported the delivery of essential supplies to and from the country and the continent, distributing more than a billion face masks to some of the European countries hit hardest by Covid-19.
Separately, Cainiao said it has deepened its partnership with Latvian Post, the national postal service in Latvia, to help the courier upgrade its digital infrastructure. Latvian Post has helped the logistics network recently expand delivery coverage to serve more AliExpress users in European countries, including Ukraine and Georgia.
Source: Alizila
