New logistics lab to improve package delivery

China's first listed courier YTO Express plans to invest 100 million yuan in a new logistics information technology lab at its Shanghai headquarters.

The National Engineering Laboratory for Logistic Information Technology is designed to create a research and development base for China's logistics and an incubator for innovation application in the flourishing sector.

It was officially founded by YTO Express Group, along with company backers China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, China National Heavy Duty Truck Group, Shanghai Internet of Things and China United Network Communications Group.

Approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, the engineering lab is the first of its kind in the logistics sector. YTO Express chairman Yu Weijiao said it is in line with Shanghai's goal of becoming a global technological innovation center as well as an international shipping center.

In the next three years, YTO Express will pour more than 100 million yuan into the lab.

Top talents from scientific research institutions with expertise in equipment research and development, automation, communication and logistics will be recruited from the lab's six joint founders.

China's logistics sector is confronting problems with information interoperability, low degree of automation, an incomplete standard system, and a shortage of talents, YTO Express vice-president Xiang Feng said.

To improve the overall industry chain, YTO Express and its partners proposed a national engineering lab in November last year and were given the green light in January.

The national engineering lab will construct an independent intellectual property rights and standard system to create a research and development base for China's logistics. Yu said it will aim to become an incubator for innovation application in China's logistics sector.

The Shanghai-listed YTO Express delivered 4.46 billion packages last year, raking in 16.8 billion yuan in revenue in 2016, up 39.04 percent from the year before.