Lazada E-logistics to open automatic sorting centre in Hanoi

The centre, which uses robots to sort parcels, is the second of Lazada E-logistics Vietnam, following the first in Ho Chi Minh City. The new facility has a capacity of tens of thousands of parcels per hour.

The move is part of Lazada E-logistics Vietnam's strategy towards going green and sustainable by investing in environmentally friendly vehicles and technology.

"We operate dozens of e-bicycles for delivery services and are planning to increase the number of this kind of vehicle to several hundreds by the end of 2018. We are studying investment in electrically-run three-and four-wheeler vehicles for distribution in the future," said Vu Duc Thinh, country manager of Lazada E-logistics Vietnam.

The green path is thus set, but developing it remains a big challenge, as three-wheeler vehicles are banned in Vietnam.

"We need support and detailed guidelines from government agencies to encourage Lazada E-logistics and others to widely develop electrically-run three- and four-wheeler vehicles in Vietnam in the future," he added.

Lazada E-logistics and Lazada Group have recently sprouted wings to fly high, as they have received an additional investment of $2 billion from Chinese tech giant Alibaba, thus increasing its total investment in the firms to US$4 billion to date.