Crackdown on unlicensed delivery vehicles in Chinese boom city creates major logistics headache
Packages pile up as Shenzhen traffic police impound illegal bikes and tricycles and detain their riders
A crackdown on unlicensed motorcycle and electric-bicycle taxi services in Shenzhen, next to Hong Kong, has dealt a heavy blow to the city’s express delivery industry, which largely relies on these vehicles to deliver packages, a major newspaper reports.
Delivery companies said they could only send out couriers in the early morning and late at night - outside the working hours of the traffic police.
This led to a significant drop in business and sometimes still failed to prevent couriers from being arrested by the police, according to the West China Metropolis Daily, based in Chengdu, Sichuan province.
A total of 874 riders have been arrested and nearly 18,000 motorbikes or electric bicycles were impounded since the crackdown started on March 21, Shenzhen traffic police said.
The crackdown targets electric and petrol-powered bicycles and tricycles that do not meet official roadworthiness standards, as well as those offering taxi services without commercial licences.
The manager of the Shenzhen branch of YTO Express, a major delivery company on the mainland, said its number of deliveries at the branch had dropped from 80,000 a day to just 10,000.