SF Express aims to increase cargo aircraft fleet to 100 by 2018
The mainland's largest private express logistics firm to boost its freight fleet while considering a major expansion of its services to Europe
SF Express, the largest private express logistics company on the mainland, is mulling whether to expand full logistics services to Europe and aims to increase its cargo aircraft fleet to 100 planes by 2018 from 36 now, group vice-president Li Dongqi said yesterday.
"It's quite natural [to expand to Europe], as a vision we will be there sooner or later," Li said.
He also the expansion to Europe should ideally involve SF Express servicing the whole express logistics chain, meaning that it would also have to be able to collect and deliver parcels on the continent. "We are not just providing partial transportation of goods [to Europe]," he said.
SF Express has just kicked off cooperation with the Dutch post office, launching business-to-customer delivery service for consumers in Europe buying through Chinese e-commerce platforms. This is similar to the cooperation between ZTO Express, another mainland courier firm, and the French post office.
After the parcels reached Europe, the Chinese courier firms rely on the European post offices to send the parcels to cut costs.
Li said SF Express would also be interested in expanding its business-to-business service to Europe, which would require a higher level of service.