At the Langfang Economic and Trade Fair on June 16, 2026, the China Express Association released and in-depth interpretation of the 2026 China Express Industry International Development Index (Langfang Index). This is the third consecutive year that the China Express Association has released the index in Langfang.
As my country’s first comprehensive index targeting the internationalization level of the express delivery industry, this index can objectively reflect the comprehensive competitiveness and influence of China’s express delivery industry and position the international development level of the industry.
The index shows that Hebei Province’s cross-border express delivery business will grow at an alarming rate in 2025. The annual international express business volume will be nearly 6 million pieces, a year-on-year increase of 21.7%, and the growth rate is 12.9 percentage points higher than the national average.
Among them, Langfang international business volume increased by 31.16% year-on-year, and Shijiazhuang international business volume increased by 21.58% year-on-year, both achieving historic breakthroughs.
Experts attending the meeting believed that this confirmed the continuous improvement of Hebei’s international mailing service capabilities.
Express delivery is an important part of cross-border e-commerce overseas logistics.
In recent years, Hebei has actively promoted the “going overseas” of express delivery, encouraged delivery companies to open more international freight routes, and relied on the air cargo resources of Shijiazhuang and Langfang to further optimize the layout of the International Mail Exchange Bureau, the International Express Mail Supervision Center, and the Cross-Border E-commerce Supervision Center. Cross-border delivery services have been continuously improved, and more good things from Hebei are going global with the help of express delivery.
In addition to the outstanding growth rate of express delivery “overseas”, the express delivery industry in Hebei Province has continued to maintain rapid growth in recent years.
In 2024, express delivery business volume surpassed Shandong for the first time, becoming the fourth largest express delivery province in the country after Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu; it continued its rapid growth momentum in 2025, exceeding the previous year’s total 67 days ahead of schedule, and historically exceeded the 10 billion piece mark, becoming the fourth province in the country with an annual express delivery business volume exceeding 10 billion.
However, as the fourth largest express delivery province in the country, Hebei’s express delivery industry still has problems of unbalanced and inadequate development, and the internationalization and intelligence of the express delivery industry still need to be improved.
Currently, the express delivery industry is going through a critical stage of transformation from scale expansion to quality and efficiency. How to achieve high-quality development of the express delivery industry in Hebei Province has become a key issue.
Qin Lei, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chief Brand Officer of STO Express, believes that the China Express Industry International Development Index (Langfang Index) has multiple values of industry monitoring, decision-making reference, and market guidance, and can provide data support and scientific guidance for government departments and express delivery companies.
The rapid growth of Hebei’s express delivery cross-border business has allowed express delivery companies to see the potential and development opportunities of express delivery “going overseas”, and will also help express delivery companies accelerate the development of Hebei’s international delivery network.
Langfang is located in the core area of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, with one-hour access to three major aviation hubs and Tianjin Port. It is uniquely endowed in terms of express delivery to the sea.
STO Express seizes regional development opportunities and deploys its northern headquarters base and North China Intelligent Transshipment Center in Langfang to build STO’s leading modern intelligent transshipment hub in the entire network and build the core of STO’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regional development.
With Langfang North China Transshipment Center as the core hub, STO has built a multi-node transshipment network in Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Handan, and Tangshan in Hebei, forming a Hebei express hub matrix with one core leading, multiple points of support, and global linkage, laying a solid foundation for future express delivery to “go overseas.”
Qin Lei suggested that Hebei should accelerate the development of a dense sea, land, air, and rail multimodal transport network and build an efficient and smooth cross-border logistics network.
At the same time, express delivery companies are guided to take measures such as expanding channels, building brands, and improving informatization levels to enhance service capabilities.
Mao Wei, deputy general manager of China Postal Express Logistics Co., Ltd., suggested using technology to empower the industry, intelligently upgrade the entire process and every link, and improve terminal smart networks in counties and townships to make express delivery faster, more economical, and more stable.
China Post focuses on six major scenarios: “city transportation, grid connection, drop-off direct delivery, on-site transfer, in-factory logistics, and county and township postal routes”. China Post has put 3,622 unmanned vehicles into use across the country, covering 248 cities across the country, transporting more than 26 million pieces of mail.
At present, unmanned vehicles can be seen delivering express delivery in many cities in Hebei.
In terms of drone applications, China Post focuses on urban distribution, rural logistics, island and mountain transportation, cold chain fresh food, pharmaceutical supply chain and other scenarios, and explores low-altitude logistics applications.
Currently, 22 pilot routes have been opened. Especially in places with inconvenient transportation such as mountainous areas and islands, drone mail routes can effectively improve terminal delivery timeliness and reduce operating costs.
Experts attending the meeting agreed that Hebei should focus on deepening the integration of “artificial intelligence + postal express delivery” and promote technological applications such as intelligent sorting, intelligent cloud warehouses, intelligent security inspection, and intelligent delivery.
At the same time, we will accelerate the improvement of the international delivery network, continue to optimize the international logistics organization model, strengthen information coordination, resource coordination and business coordination with cross-border e-commerce, Made in China, and Made in Hebei, contribute to the safe and smooth flow of the international industrial chain and supply chain, and improve the high-quality development level of the industry.
