SF Express, China’s biggest logistics service provider, is offering a total of US$100,000 for new creative designs for the bodies of its Boeing 747-400ER freight planes. The award money consists of US$50,000 for the top winner, US$10,000 for each of the three runners-up and US$4,000 each for the five second runners-up. The top winner and the three runners-up will also be invited to the inauguration ceremony for the two Boeing 747-400ER, which the company acquired through online auctions on Taobao.com at the end of last year. SF Express acquired two Boeing 747 freighters last November with online bids totaling 320 million yuan (US$50.65 million). The cargo planes were previously owned by Jade Cargo International Co., a Sino-German cargo company that filed for bankruptcy in 2013. The exterior of SF Express’ first freight plane in 2009 was mostly black. It was repainted white in 2011 and continues to be the signature color for the SF fleet of Boeing 737, 757 and 767 aircraft to this day. The firm said the new design, on which it seeks input from designers worldwide, should incorporate SF Express elements and the firm’s cultural hallmarks as well as generate internationally appreciated artistic and creative visual effects. Submissions for the new design need not resemble the current design. In another development, SF Express said March 28 that its subsidiary Fengyu Shuntu Technology had received the first official permit in China to deliver packages via unmanned aerial vehicles, following a series of tests that began last June. SF Express aims to use drones for delivering goods to rural and sparsely populated areas in China. (SD News) |