At 10:30 a.m. on April 24th, a drone carrying imported goods took off in the Guangzhou Huangpu Free Trade Zone Cross-border E-commerce Supervision Center. After a 20-minute flight, the goods reached consumers at the Zhitai Square in Huangpu District 13 kilometer away. This is the first direct drone delivery of cross-border e-commerce imported goods nationwide. Besides, it marks the opening of the low-altitude logistics route from the Supervision Center to Zhitai Square, bringing to a higher level the development of cross-border e-commerce empowered by the low-altitude economy in the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone (part of Huangpu District).
The greatest innovation of this delivery mode lies in the usage of low-altitude drone transportation in lieu of traditional land transportation. "The first routes will be used mainly for the delivery of red wine, health care products, beauty & skincare products, and mom & baby care products, aiming to achieve high-speed delivery and receipt of goods," said Lin Canbin, chief of Inspection Section of Suidong Customs in Guangzhou.
According to Weng Jianmiao, chairman of Guangzhou Kuajingtong Cross-border E-commerce Co., Ltd, the cross-border e-commerce business through low-altitude transportation, combined with direct delivery from the Huangpu Free Trade Zone, can avoid long distance land transportation to the offline store and to the house of the customers, and greatly expands the reach of the direct high-speed delivery to farther self-pick-up electronic smart cabinets, bonded e-commerce display stores or commercial districts, bringing convenience to more consumers.
As an important participant in Huangpu's cross-border e-commerce development, Huangpu Free Trade Zone has been striving to build itself into a global warehouse in recent years. Since the zone went into operation, its foreign trade value has seen an average annual growth of 37.3 percent. Going forward, Huangpu Free Trade Zone will take the first flight as a starting point to build a new system of low-altitude smart logistics and explore new modes of delivery and inspection through low-altitude freight transportation, which will continue to provide an operable example that can be widely applied for the integrated development of low-altitude economy and logistics in Huangpu District.
Editors | Steven, Nancy Ye, Ge Yuting, Hong Ting, James
Photos provided to GDToday
