An airplane flies over a drone in the skies of New York. Chinese courier SF Express announced this week that it has been using drones to send parcels across China. (Photo : Reuters)
China’s largest mail company is now delivering packages using drones, the first to do so in the country.
Shenzhen-based logistics provider SF Express has revealed that it has a fleet of small unmanned aircraft delivering 500 parcels a day around the Pearl River Delta and plans to double their capacity in the near future, the People's Daily Online reported on Tuesday.
The company, in partnership with domestic drone maker XAircraft, started experimenting with drone deliveries in Dongguan, southern China, in 2013.
"At present there are 500 drones carrying out courier work in Shenzhen and Huizhou," said Peng Bing, XAircraft's founder.
"The entire drone operation will reach several thousand units very soon," Peng added.
According to the XAircraft website, its delivery drones can carry loads of up to 10 kilograms and have a maximum range of 20 kilometers (12 miles).
The goods are loaded onto the drone by the courier, the delivery address is scanned, and the drone flies to the destination where it is picked up by another courier.
SF Express said that it is currently delivering packages via drones in southern and eastern China, including areas like Huizhou, Zhongshan and Hangzhou where same-day courier services are in high demand. The company is also planning to expand their services to villages in China's remote and mountainous regions.
Peng said that drone delivery is still in its infancy and, compared with urban areas, it is more practical to deliver packages to areas where human workers would find difficult to access.
Drone delivery services have been gaining interest in recent years. In July the previous year, U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration for an exemption from rules prohibiting them from using drones for commercial purposes. German delivery firm DHL also launched in September a regular drone delivery service to islands in the North Sea.
