On December 16 at 9:45 a.m., within Sichuan Longdu Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. in Rongxian County, Zigong City, deliveryman Wu Jian efficiently packaged a tea order in just 37 seconds before dispatching it to the Zigong Transfer Center of STO Express. "This package is bound for Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, and was purchased by a viewer through the Longdu Agricultural Douyin live stream," said Wu Jian.

Monitoring data from the Zigong Municipal Postal Administration shows that this package is the 100 millionth delivery sent out from Zigong City in 2024, marking the city's annual express delivery volume surpassing 100 million for the first time.

At 8:00 p.m., inside the Zigong Transfer Center of STO Express, the intersecting conveyor belts were filled with various packages, including the tea package, which was swiftly moving forward on the conveyor. "From the moment it enters the transfer center to the loading dock, the process is almost fully automated," Chen Chuang, Manager of the Zigong Transfer Center of STO Express, told the reporter.

Following the direction indicated by Chen Chuang, the reporter observed a conveyor belt transporting the tea package to the scanning and identification zone. With a "beep", the tea package was identified and then "flowed" onto a large-item conveyor belt. After traveling a certain distance, it arrived at the scanning area for destination identification. Post-scanning, the package was directed to the packaging area for the corresponding province. The entire sorting process took only five minutes.

After the sorting was complete, the staff loaded the tea package onto a delivery vehicle, with an expected arrival at the buyer's location within two days. Chen Chuang introduced that the transfer center currently handles approximately 700,000 packages daily. Every day, more than 120 trucks are loaded with packages at the center and set off for various parts of the country.

This year, Zigong's express delivery volume has consistently risen, hitting the 100 million package milestone nearly 15 days earlier than expected. What is behind Zigong's express delivery success?

Zigong is leveraging the "Sichuan Goods Delivery" initiative to deepen the integration of the express delivery sector with local specialty products. "Longdu Xiangming is a specialty tea brand in Rongxian County, highly favored by consumers, and it is also one of the projects under the 'Sichuan Goods Delivery' initiative," introduced Ma Jun, Deputy Director of Zigong Municipal Postal Administration. According to statistics, Zigong's "Cold Eats" series is the most sought-after, with this year's delivery volume already exceeding ten million pieces. Additionally, nine other delivery items, including stew seasoning mix, well salt, and bamboo weaving, are also bestsellers, with volumes exceeding one million pieces each. Currently, the delivery volume of Zigong's products under the "Sichuan Goods Delivery" project has hit 41.197 million pieces, constituting about 41 percent of the city's total express delivery volume. Delivery services have emerged as a crucial link in the external sales chain of products, boosting related output value to over 1.7 billion yuan.

Zigong is one of the three major express logistics hubs in the province, the express logistics center in southern Sichuan, and a national postal express hub-bearing city. Transportation advantages and hub functions have long been Zigong's unique endowments. Zigong has successfully drawn five major express delivery companies—ZTO, STO, Yunda, J&T, and YTO—to establish their South Sichuan Transfer Centers. Through main trunk lines, these centers enjoy direct connectivity to most allocating centers across the country, such as those in Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Kunming. Consequently, the city's express delivery efficiency has increased by 24 hours compared to five years ago.

Price is another key advantage. Ma Jun introduced that the average unit price of express delivery services in Zigong City is 3.84 yuan, the lowest in the southern Sichuan region. This provides an efficient and low-cost logistics solution for local specialty industries. Simultaneously, Zigong has achieved integration of warehousing and distribution in express delivery transfer centers, aiming to foster the growth of the entire industry chain, encompassing e-commerce, warehousing, and express delivery. Currently, seven e-commerce and supply chain companies have been attracted to establish operations in Zigong, enabling the transfer center to offer one-stop services such as e-commerce live streaming, storage, and delivery. In the first eleven months of this year, the warehouse outbound volume surpassed 50 million items, making up over 50 percent of the city's total business volume. Additionally, there was a further expansion in the proportion of "Internet+" delivery and direct shipping from the place of origin.

"Surpassing 100 million packages ahead of schedule is not only due to tapping into the potential of 'Sichuan Goods Delivery', reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and the deep integration of e-commerce and express delivery, but also because we are improving the logistics system," introduced Ma Jun. Since the beginning of this year, Zigong has further improved its rural delivery and logistics system, establishing 261 township outlets and 720 village-level stations, as noted by Ma. Among these, there are 698 comprehensive service stations for village-level delivery and logistics, achieving a coverage rate of 99.29 percent. Express delivery is playing an increasingly prominent role in boosting the sales of local agricultural products and supporting the food processing industry. Meanwhile, regional express hubs are being utilized more effectively to enhance these efforts.