Pak-China cross-border logistics brings employment and technologies to Pakistan

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Pak-China cross-border logistics brings employment and technologies to Pakistan

LAHORE, Jun 9 (China Economic Net) - As usual, Syed Taha, 22, an express courier, arrived at a wareh

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By Wang Kai | China Economic Net Jun 9, 2022

LAHORE, Jun 9 (China Economic Net) - As usual, Syed Taha, 22, an express courier, arrived at a warehouse on the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan, at 10 a.m. to check the parcels that needed to be delivered today.

About three months ago, intrigued by the express delivery lockers around his residence, which is a “last mile delivery” facility that stores packages near customers’ addresses before they take their parcels out with passcode, he joined his current company, Speedaf Express Pakistan, a Pakistan-China cross-border logistics provider.

Before that, he was a motorcycle driver with an unstable income that seldom surpassed $ 300 a month and could hardly support his family.

“Now my salary is similar to that of white-collars in Pakistan”, he said.

Syed Taha is one of those who are riding the tide of the booming logistics industry in Pakistan.

In recent years, with increasing mobile phone users and young population, online shopping is emerging in this country.

“To support logistics demand from local online consumption and cross-border trade, we rolled out nationwide logistics services in Pakistan last November, and our business has increased 15-fold”, Mr. Sun Chao, head of Speedaf Express Pakistan told China Economic Net (CEN).

Up to now, except the remote and sparsely-populated Quetta city, the company has established delivery stations in 75% of the areas in Pakistan, covering over 80% of the population.

Rapidly expanding business has brought multiple employment opportunities. Currently, the company is hiring hundreds of Pakistani staff, about 60% of them being deliverymen. This is just the beginning.

At the end of last month, the company launched weekly China-Pakistan cargo charter flights between Macau International Airport (MFM) and Jinnah International Airport Karachi (KHI) for the transport of 3C electronic goods, e-commerce goods, and other goods that require prompt transportation.
“We are developing more flight routes between Pakistan and China which will be launched this year before air cargo peak season. In the future, we will also provide shipping service between these two countries”, informed Mr. Sun.

With the thriving industry comes modern logistics technologies. On the employees’ side, they are exposed to efficient logistics tools such as PDA scanners, electronic waybills, conveyor belts, etc. On the customers’ side, they can track where their parcels are and complete the payment online.

The pressure on cross-border transport has been persisting since the outbreak of the pandemic. “We have set up high-standard warehouses with a total area of over 7000 square meters in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, and Multan. By providing full-chain, door-to-door logistics services, we hope to ease the shortage of international transport capacity”, Mr. Sun added.