A container vessel loaded with postal parcels departed the dock in Shanghai on September 15 and sailed for South America, marking the launch of the cross-border postal sea freight service jointly developed by China COSCO SHIPPING Corporation Limited (COSCO SHIPPING) and Shanghai Post, and opening a new postal sea route from Shanghai to Peru.
For a long time, international mail and postal parcels sent from China to Peru and other destinations in Latin America had relied heavily on air transport. Air freight delivery is fast, but it comes with high postal rates and requires transshipment via third countries. This leads to unpredictable transit times and poor end-to-end cargo tracking, with shipments taking nearly 50 days to reach Peru.
The new postal sea route cuts ocean transport time to 28 days. In China, Shanghai Post handles parcel collection and container loading, and COSCO SHIPPING uses the direct Shanghai-Chancay transoceanic route to speed up shipment by 20 days. When the vessel arrives in Peru, Serpost, Peru’s national postal operator, takes charge of customs clearance and final delivery. This three-party collaboration moves parcels from senders’ doorsteps all the way to recipients in South America.
Early this year, COSCO SHIPPING completed pilot operations in Peru, accumulating experience for the launch of services. In this launch, COSCO SHIPPING Lines (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of COSCO SHIPPING, coordinated with authorities of docks, customs and ports to remove bottlenecks across the whole chain of parcel collection, container loading and transoceanic shipment.
The Chancay working group of COSCO SHIPPING, together with the corporation’s Peruvian team, closely engaged with local regulators and Serpost. They used the new postal sea route to establish an “ocean transport plus postal customs clearance” model for Chinese e-commerce parcels. After the first test shipment arrived at Chancay Port, it was rapidly forwarded, with Serpost completing customs clearance and final delivery. It’s the first time that Chinese e-commerce goods have entered Peru via sea postal transport.
From a single letter or parcel to a complete transoceanic logistics corridor, COSCO SHIPPING offers Chinese exporters a new, reliable shipping option that shortens the cross-border delivery time by 20 days.
(Executive editor: Zuo Shihan)
