Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region had dispatched a total of 101 million tons of goods this year as of Thursday, marking a 2 percent year-on-year growth, according to the China Railway Urumqi Bureau.
The 100 million-ton milestone was reached three days earlier than last year, said the authority.
These goods shipped from Xinjiang included more than 39.4 million tons of coal, an increase of 6.8 percent year on year, which have added new momentum to the efforts to ensure national energy security and served the high-quality development of the regional economy, said the bureau.
Xinjiang railway's cargo dispatch volume exceeds 100 million tons this year
Xinjiang railway's cargo dispatch volume exceeds 100 million tons this year
Central China's Henan Province launched its first postal drone delivery service in a mountainous region of Anyang City in the province, providing convenience for villagers and offering a solution to challenges in logistics to remote areas.
In Shibanyan Town of Anyang, drones were seen taking off from drone ports set up atop the premises of local postal branch offices, carrying mails and goods to remote and high-altitude villages deep in the Taihang Mountains previously difficult to access.
The drone delivery service covers 11 routes which operate one to two scheduled flights daily, benefiting over 4,000 residents in 11 villages.
Residents of Shangping Village, situated at an altitude of over 1,100 meters above the sea level, previously faced a four-hour walk back and forth to the Shibanyan postal branch office. With the drone delivery service, parcels now arrive in just seven minutes.
Villagers say the cost of drone delivery is affordable. Small packages cost around eight yuan (merely more than one U.S. dollar) for the first kilogram and about four yuan (about half a U.S. dollar) for each additional kilogram.
The application of drone delivery addresses the long-standing logistical challenges faced by areas with complex terrains and limited transportation access, like Anyang's mountainous areas.
"[The operation of drone delivery] can actually ease the bottleneck in the development of technology for future logistics in mountainous areas, island areas and cities. The projected market size could reach over 120 billion yuan (16.7 billion U.S. dollars)," said Han Henggang, deputy director of Anyang Blue Sky Laboratory's Airspace Management Research and Application Center.
Drone delivery service reaches mountainous village in central China
