Celebrate the festive season and be busy shopping. At present, cross-border e-commerce can not only allow Chinese to easily "buy the world", the booming overseas warehouse, but also let Chinese goods float across the sea to "sell the world". Small parcels open up big markets, and also allow a group of Chinese young people who dare to explore new business opportunities. Today's "New Year Walk to the Grassroots" walks into an overseas warehouse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and looks at the story of the struggle that happened there.
At 10 o'clock in the evening, when the whole city began to sleep, this parcel distribution center in Dubai Industrial City ushered in the busiest time of the day.
Yunbo, Operations Manager of a Cross-border Logistics Company: Slow down, don't let them stand and wait for the package to come, you can't wait like this. They have to be more proactive.
Yun Bo, the operations manager, shuttles through the mountain of packages that are taller than people. In the past two days, due to the upgrade of Dubai's customs system, the parcels arrived in a flood after being held up for several days. Hundreds of bills of lading from a large customer were about to expire, so Yunbo hurriedly took his staff to expedite the processing.
Reporter: I see you're covered in sweat.
Yunbo, Operations Manager of a Cross-border Logistics Company: Yes, because I have been helping to unload the goods just now, because there is a customer's bill of lading that must be found first.
In order to quickly respond to local orders and solve the problems of transnational logistics timeliness and cost, many Chinese companies have built overseas warehouses abroad, and they have developed rapidly.
Every day, more than 30,000 parcels from all over the world gather in this overseas warehouse where Yunbo is located. Unloading, code scanning, sorting, loading, and processed packages depart from here and are sent across the Middle East and North Africa. Among them, most of the packages are from China.
More than 30 operators worked through the night to process a full day's volume of parcels. At two o'clock in the morning, Yunbo and his co-workers were able to sit down and take a break for dinner.
Every day, Yunbo also has to take time to check another overseas warehouse. The warehouse gate leads directly to Dubai's Al Maktoum Airport, and the tarmac is ready to be unloaded and shipped away.
Yunbo, Operations Manager of a Cross-border Logistics Company: What is stacked here is ready to be shipped. Basically, there are a lot of them, and some of them have been put on the tray.
In 2023, China's cross-border e-commerce import and export will be 238 trillion yuan, an increase of 156%。Among them, export 183 trillion yuan, an increase of 196%, and the sales network covers more than 220 countries and regions around the world. The number of overseas warehouses exceeds 2,400. This allows Chinese enterprises to have a wider reach and closer to overseas buyers, driving cross-border e-commerce, a new form of foreign trade, to accelerate and run fast.
Yunbo, Operations Manager of Cross-border Logistics Company: In fact, the momentum of China's e-commerce development is getting better and better. There are not only this kind of infants, but also mobile phones, mobile phone accessories, furniture, and cat food from this pet store, and there are many categories. The customers of this baby product did not explore the Middle East market at the earliest. Now it has also gone abroad, when it first came it was only introduced in Chinese, and now we can see all its packaging, and now it has Arabic text here.
The management of Yunbo's team is composed of more than 30 Chinese employees, almost all of whom are "post-90s". With the hard work, courage and tenacity of Chinese young people, the team has grown from scratch in more than two years since it entered Dubai, and has become one of the top three logistics companies in the local parcel handling volume.
Zhao Zhao, general manager of the cross-border logistics company: When I first came, this piece was a cement floor, and this equipment was also brought from China. The brothers in the UAE started out without a life, working during the day and then discussing work at night.
During the Spring Festival, the company dressed up and down, and took advantage of the holiday to purchase pirgeons and meat fillings from Chinese supermarkets. Chinese and foreign employees crowded into a small conference room, making dumplings together, and spending a lively New Year collectively.
The new year is coming, and after processing the urgent orders of large customers, Yunbo has to hurry up to deal with another urgent job - meet the intermediary and find a larger factory for the company.
Yunbo, operation manager of cross-border logistics company: The development of the business is indeed very rapid, and there may be more expansion in the future.