By end-2022, online shoppers in Singapore will be able to pick up deliveries from a network of 1,000 parcel locker stations nationwide.
They will be located in HDB estates, MRT stations and community centres, with one within 250 metres of every HDB flat.
This initiative was announced in Parliament by Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information, Sim Ann, on 3 March.
The Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) will take charge of the programme, and start to progressively roll out locker stations from late 2020.
A parcel locker network was first piloted in 2018 to help logistics companies cope with rising delivery volumes due to the rapid growth of ecommerce, and solve the issue of missed door-to-door deliveries when recipients were not at home.
Logistics providers BluPort and SingPost installed 23 locker stations in Bukit Panjang and another 39 in Punggol.
Since then, the stations have increased delivery efficiency by four times, allowing drivers to dispatch 250 parcels a day, compared to 60 parcels if it was done door-to-door.
Building on the pilot’s success, IMDA will “scale up the network of parcel lockers and deploy them nationwide to better serve the needs of Singapore residents”.
The locker stations will be available for all ecommerce players and logistics providers to use.
IMDA will also work with ecommerce platform Shopee to co-develop new solutions to meet the growing demands of online shoppers.
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Featured Image Credit: IMDA