China: 35,000 Motorcycle Express Delivery Companies from Bikes in the Fast Lane

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China: 35,000 Motorcycle Express Delivery Companies

July
2012

  File under Cargo
  Author: Mike Werner
  Location: Normandy, France

Wow, that's an impressive figure; 35,000 express delivery companies in China, most using motorcycles and scooters. No wonder the likes of DHL can't cope (the fact that their customer service is nonexistent doesn't help either).

A man rides a motorcycle as he delivers a box in Shanghai July 11, 2012. China's 35,000 express delivery companies can ship packages hundreds of miles for less than the cost of a standard U.S. letter, pricing out global players such as FedEx and UPS who control just 3 percent of the fast-growing market. Backed by an e-commerce boom, China's express delivery market more than doubled to $13 billion in revenue in the five years to 2011, and is expected to overtake the $70 billion U.S. market to become the world's biggest within two decades. But with so many local companies vying for business, a crushing price war that has already driven Deutsche Post's DHL out of the domestic market may trigger a massive wave of consolidation that eliminates thousands of small firms. Picture taken on July 11, 2012. REUTERS/Aly Song