Hangzhou City in east China’s Zhejiang Province, which is also home to the country’s first cross-border e-commerce pilot zone, is strengthening its air cargo network to boost foreign trade growth.
As a major departure point for domestic e-commerce export, the city’s airport is seeing rising freight volumes driven by the increasing e-commerce of freight transportation.
At the international terminal of Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, more than 100 tons of e-commerce goods are ready to be shipped by cargo plane to Derby, UK.
“Currently, flights to East Midlands Airport are running at full capacity. Since May, the weekly frequency has doubled from three to six,” said Chen Min, customs affairs manager at a local freight forwarding company.
As the e-commerce continues to thrive, many e-commerce companies are now pursuing fast delivery, aiming to complete shipping in five days for countries around the world, and achieve next-day delivery for neighboring countries.
This year, new dedicated cargo routes have been launched to Tokyo, Japan; Tashkent, Uzbekistan; and Ostrava, Czech Republic, providing strong support for export growth.
To maximize the efficiency of overseas routes, customs authorities have introduced multiple air-to-air transfer models, including international-to-domestic and international-to-international connections.
“Air transit, in simple terms, means that when two airports don’t have a direct flight route but both have direct flights to a third airport, they can connect through that hub. Generally, this option is cheaper than a direct flight, and operating costs are reduced by about one-third,” explained Fang Junqing, deputy chief of logistics monitoring department at the customs office of Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport.
So far this year, Hangzhou’s airport has handled more than 110,000 tons of imports and exports, with cross-border e-commerce accounting for over 70 percent of air cargo exports, cementing its role as the city’s main growth driver in foreign trade.