The keychain of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the traditional French Phrygia hat, the Olympic silicone wristband... a series of domestically produced products filled with the atmosphere of watching the games frequently appeared at the Paris Olympics. With the recent rise of the "Olympic economy", in July of this year, the shipment volume of Cainiao Group's (hereinafter referred to as Cainiao) European warehouse increased by more than 200% compared to May.

Since the beginning of this year, China's cross-border e-commerce trade has continued to grow steadily. The latest data released by the General Administration of Customs shows that in the first half of this year, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports amounted to 122 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%, which is 4.4 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of China's foreign trade during the same period. Cross border e-commerce imports and exports have grown by 1.2 times in five years, from 1.06 trillion yuan in 2018 to 2.38 trillion yuan in 2023. The 'chain' connects the four seas and reaches the world, making it easy for consumers and businesses to 'buy globally and sell globally' at their fingertips. As of now, China has established bilateral e-commerce cooperation mechanisms with 31 countries, and cross-border e-commerce has become a new driving force for foreign trade growth and a "new force" for global trade development, demonstrating the "Chinese power" that stimulates foreign trade vitality.

The acceleration of China's cross-border e-commerce and the impressive performance report cannot be achieved without the guarantee of an efficient logistics system. Cross border e-commerce logistics companies represented by Cainiao rely on technological strength to develop smart logistics. Multiple logistics scenarios such as smart hubs, overseas warehouses, and distribution centers are accelerating construction. In the future, the cross-border e-commerce logistics system will be more perfect, further reducing logistics costs and significantly improving logistics efficiency.

The hub layout is "longitude", and technological innovation is "latitude". A global express logistics network that continuously promotes cost reduction, quality improvement, and efficiency enhancement in transportation and logistics is accelerating its formation.

Building an independent and controllable supply chain

Under the iconic Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, a series of blue trucks pass through, like a surging source of vitality and energy. These blue carriages carry heavy Olympic supplies, heading towards the "China House" built by the Chinese Olympic Committee in Paris and the "Training Camp" and "Support Camp" for athletes to prepare for the Olympics.

The hand cranked national flag, athlete clothing and other daily necessities at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, as well as the construction and operation materials of the "China House"... These important materials came all the way from China and were flown directly to Paris by Cainiao Airlines. Due to the tight transportation time, Cainiao has used a digital customs clearance system to prepare customs clearance reports for the goods in advance, reducing the overall clearance time for cross-border goods in Paris by more than half. Ren Junshu, Director of the Public Affairs Department of Cainiao, introduced that due to the various shapes, weights, and volumes of the guaranteed materials, the transportation difficulty is high. In order to smooth the "last mile" of material transportation, Cainiao urgently dispatched a dedicated express transport fleet, applied for documents in advance, and successfully ensured the efficient delivery of more than 700 boxes of materials under traffic control in Paris.

In 2018, Cainiao launched the construction of an "international logistics corridor", adopting a strategy of combining infrastructure "hard connectivity" and digital intelligence construction "soft connectivity". At present, a logistics network covering more than 200 countries and regions around the world has been established, with 18 overseas distribution centers built successively, over 3 million square meters of cross-border logistics warehouses, and more than 7000 sets of overseas self pickup containers deployed. In the fiscal year 2023, Cainiao processed over 1.5 billion cross-border packages, serving 133 million cross-border consumers and over 100000 merchants and brands.

At Liege Airport in Belgium, a warehouse style building rises from the ground with a total area of 220000 square meters, of which nearly 120000 square meters are warehouses. Inside the building, automated sorting machines are operating, and hundreds of thousands of Chinese export packages are transported by freight charter planes every day, passing through this cargo terminal and transferring to the local truck transportation network. This smart logistics hub is constructed and operated by Cainiao, integrating trunk transportation, customs clearance, air cargo terminal, and warehousing. It was officially put into use in 2021. As of now, the Li è ge logistics hub handles an average of 55 inbound and outbound flights per week, with 500 truck operations per week. It has become an important bridge for communication and economic cooperation between China and Europe, effectively supporting the "going global" of Chinese goods and industries, and playing an important role in building an independent and controllable supply chain.

Centered around the Li è ge hub, a multi-point network of distribution centers in seven countries including Germany, France, Spain, and Italy can currently cover most of Europe's countries and regions. Nowadays, European consumers can achieve ten day delivery of packages with an average shipping cost of only $5 per order. Jonathan, who lives in Brussels, Belgium, often uses the Chinese e-commerce platform "cross-border shopping" for daily necessities. He believes that the product quality of Chinese e-commerce platforms is reliable, and logistics and services are very efficient. Jose Antonio received his long-awaited Bluetooth earphones in less than 10 working days from placing an order online to receiving them at his home in Spain. The efficiency improvement of cross-border logistics has optimized the shopping experience for overseas consumers and further enhanced their reputation for Chinese brands.

Express delivery companies actively build a three-dimensional "going global" channel. Wang Yuehan, Director of the Industrial Economics Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Post Bureau, stated that "the express delivery industry continues to strengthen the construction of the international postal logistics system, promoting better connectivity between the domestic and international markets." On April 22, the Party Group of the State Post Bureau held a meeting emphasizing the need to promote effective connection between express delivery and various transportation modes, and actively develop multimodal transport. We need to deepen the promotion of express delivery into villages, factories, and overseas markets, drive related industries to reduce logistics costs, improve quality and efficiency, and form a "collaborative and symbiotic" ecological system for the integrated development of multiple industries.

Behind the cost reduction and efficiency improvement of cross-border logistics, it is inseparable from a well connected delivery network. In order to focus on enhancing cross-border service capabilities, China Post continues to strengthen its air transport capacity, improve its air delivery network, and operate a total of 20 independent international routes, with a fleet size of over 40 aircraft. China Post has also opened 20 sea freight lines and 15 China Europe freight routes, forming a comprehensive three-dimensional international transportation channel that integrates multiple transport capacities and multimodal transport. Last year, it transported a total of 730000 tons of postal and commercial goods.