China Post kicks off a new service nationwide Wednesday called priority package delivery, which is faster than the common package delivery service but much cheaper than the Express Mail Service (EMS)

The aim is to target customers of commercial enterprises, electronic business companies and mail-order providers, said Xu Kui, director of the Public Service Department with the China Post.

He said the priority packages will be delivered three times a day while the common package will be sent out once a day.

The packages will be delivered by trains and post office vehicles to reduce costs. The charge of EMS, which is mainly delivered by planes, is three times of the priority package services, said the official.

The delivery times of priority packages between major cities will be limited to four to six days which is faster than the usual one week period of common package delivery.

China Post has signed agreements with dozens of leading domestic and international companies to be their delivery service agent.

Haier, China's biggest home appliances maker, delivers 270,000 sets of refrigerators a month via the logistic network of China Post.

Computer makers Dell, Hewlett Packard, IBM and pharmaceutics vendor Xi'an Janssen have all become customers of China Post.

China Post is changing from a government bureau to an independent commercial organization, said Xu.

Starting from next year, it would receive no subsidy from the government and will have to make its own money.

To compete with overseas and domestic delivery companies, China Post has speeded up its delivery three times over the last two years.

The speeding up has received encouraging feedback from customers. The revenue that come from mail and package delivery reported double digit growth in past months, said Zhao Zhongxin, director of China Post's general management office.

China Post has more than 60,000 postal outlets nationwide, its coverage is the most comprehensive, compared with any other logistics providers.

It would further utilize the huge volume of goods flow, information flow and capital flow to provide more customer oriented and price diversified services, Zhao said.

(China Daily 08/01/2001)