4.1b parcels handled over National Day holiday

Parcel deliveries were smooth during the weeklong National Day holiday, with more than 4.1 billion parcels handled, the State Post Bureau of China said.

Between Oct 1 and Oct 7, some 2.14 billion parcels were sent, a year-on-year increase of 7.23 percent for the same period, and nearly 2 billion parcels were delivered, a year-on-year rise of 2.61 percent.

While Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, tightened epidemic control policies during the holiday, parcel delivery companies like China Post, SF Express and JD Logistics carried on working, and couriers also worked overtime to deliver parcels.

In all, 47 China Post parcel delivery stations in Urumqi remained open, nearly 80 percent of its stations in the regional capital.

Sixty employees from supporting departments worked at the stations delivering epidemic prevention materials and daily necessities, to ensure basic needs were met during the holiday.

Jin Guowei, a courier with ZTO Express in Shanghai, said that he was busier than usual during the holiday and had to work harder to serve customers.

"Most people were on holiday but our couriers were even busier," he said, adding that his own workload had risen by about 30 percent, as he collected and delivered 500 to 600 parcels a day.

Jin also said that more agricultural and large-sized items were ordered.

The postal sector is about to experience its annual peak season during the upcoming Double 11 e-commerce shopping festival, the bureau said.

It will continue to play its roles in ensuring daily supplies, stabilizing the industrial supply chain, promoting economic and social development and supporting national strategic plans.

It will also expand domestic demand, stabilize the economy, boost employment and benefit livelihoods, the bureau said.

The parcel delivery sector steadily grew during the first eight months of this year, latest figures from the bureau showed.

From January to August, courier companies handled 70.3 billion parcels, a year-on-year increase of 4.4 percent on the same period last year, and the bureau's business revenue came in at 676 billion yuan ($94.98 billion) during the period, up 3.9 percent from a year ago.