On June 3, there was a hive of activity at the SF Express and JD Express stations in Jingzhou Miao and Dong Autonomous County. The express delivery shipments of the local bayberries were much anticipated and thus kicked off as originally planned. After being quickly sorted and packaged by staff, these shiny black, plump and juicy bayberries would find their way to over 200 cities nationwide via cold chain logistics.
In the temporary bayberry sales market on the Feishan North Road emerged the conspicuous express pickup points where working staff were methodically setting up workstations and moving packing boxes. In the meanwhile, fruit farmers were unloading freshly picked bayberries while merchants and customers were doing the selecting and weighing, and negotiating prices with farmers. Afterwards these lovely bayberries were packaged and shipped at nearby express points.
"Equipped with more than a dozen mainline vehicles and air transportation, we can directly deliver bayberries to all parts of the country. For short-distance transportation, we use vehicles which directly pick up the fruit from farmers’ households. To ensure that all products arrive on the doorstep of our clients fresh and juicy, we capitalize on cold-chain trucks." said Xie Weiyao, head of Hunan Region of JD Express.
Among the passing vehicles, a SF Express' driverless vehicle was particularly eye-catching. Following a pre-determined route, it was deftly steering clear of pedestrians and cars, transporting fresh bayberries to the transfer station with pinpoint exactness.
"This year, up to 150 personnel have been deployed and more than 80 connecting vehicles and mainline trucks have been utilized. This is also the first year when we're employing driver-less vehicles, which definitely serves as a milestone event. The effective and spontaneous use of driver-less vehicles means that we are capable of delivering bayberries from our collection points to transfer centers, and then to the delivery destinations across the country with more swiftness, higher frequency, and greater efficiency, " said Chen Jian, Bayberry Project Manager of SF Express in Hunan.
Cultivated for over 2,000 years, Jingzhou bayberries have been crowned with the reputation of "No. 1 Bayberry in southern China." They have been thus recognized as national agricultural products with geographical indications and national ecological origin products as well. Currently, the county is boasting a total cultivation area of 103,000 mu, with 68,000 mu of standardized production gardens and an fresh fruit output of over 40,000 tons annually. Aided by the “wings” of the efficient cold-chain transportation, bayberries will be able to delivered to thousands of households .
（Translated by Dong Yue）