Alibaba’s Ele.me, Hema Fresh and Cainiao Send 3,000 Frontline Workers to Aid Shanghai Lockdown
Lockdowns in the metropolis of Shanghai are continuing as officials work to curb a local outbreak of COVID-19. Amid the challenging situation, Chinese internet technology giant Alibaba announced Friday that its food delivery platform Ele.me, supermarket chain RT-Mart, grocery e-commerce platform Hema Fresh and express delivery platform Cainiao have actively organized qualified local frontline workers and mobilized staff from other places to ensure Shanghai’s supply and distribution of goods. In the near future, a total of 3,000 workers will be gathered in Shanghai to help.
The newly added workers are mainly composed of food delivery drivers, couriers and warehouse logistics personnel. Among them, 1,000 local delivery drivers of Ele.me will return to their posts, and 600 people will be deployed from other places to support Shanghai’s supply. RT-Mart will deploy 600 workers from other places. Hema Fresh has successively increased 300 frontline workers and Cainiao will send 500 additional couriers from the local area.
In the past week, nearly 1,500 delivery drivers for Ele.me have been added, and it is expected that about 1,000 drivers will be sent to Shanghai in the near future. In addition, 600 drivers will be dispatched from other places to reinforce the supply of Shanghai.
Cainiao will send an additional 500 delivery couriers for express delivery services in Shanghai to support e-commerce platforms including Tmall Supermarket. In addition, it has allocated many several unmanned vehicles to ensure “last mile” distribution within the community.
RT-Mart will also send 600 employees from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui province to help the supply of Shanghai, and participate in goods supply, sorting and online order distribution in its 26 supermarkets in Shanghai.
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As of yesterday, about 300 frontline workers for Hema Fresh went out of the lockdown areas in Shanghai and returned to their posts. Some stores that had been closed before are now reopened. Hema Fresh’s store in Shanghai’s Baoshan District resumed operations yesterday, and more stores will resume work in the next few days.
Relevant stores, warehouses and other key places will disinfect continuously. When warehouse sorting workers, express delivery drivers and other personnel return to their posts, they will also strictly abide by local pandemic prevention regulations and take personal precautions. The platform has purchased N95 masks and other equipment and has distributed them free of charge. Ele.me also provides each delivery driver with safeguard measures through a pandemic care fund.
