by Chen Wenxian

JERUSALEM, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Israel Post's largest sorting center, located in the outskirts of Israeli central city of Modi'in, is busy dealing with cross-border online packages every day, about half of which are originated from China's AliExpress.

As more and more Israelis are fond of cross-border online shopping, packages arriving in Israel are rising rapidly.

Statistics from the Israel Post shows that about 65 million cross-border e-commerce packages were delivered in Israel in 2018, and around half of which were orders from AliExpress, which is owned and operated by Alibaba Group in China.

The Modi'in sorting center, put into operation in April 2017, has a total acreage of 13,000 square meters and is about 10 kilometers away from the Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport.

The center now is the biggest site in Israel being responsible for sorting cross-border online packages, most of which are of 2 kilograms or less in weight.

AliExpress is one of the most popular cross-border online shopping platforms for Israelis, said Noy Kedem, vice president of Communication and Public Affairs in Israel Post.

The Israelis like China's Singles' Day and they could make about 4 million orders in one day, while Israel has only more than 8 million population, Kedem told Xinhua. "This is the most exciting day and it is like an Israeli holiday."

China's Singles' Day refers to November 11 and the day is repurposed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba as the "November 11 Global Shopping Festival." Currently, it has become the world's largest online shopping event.

For Israeli orders, the leading categories include clothing and footwear, housewares, kitchen accessories, gadgets, electronics and computers, vitamins and cosmetics.

In the Modi'in sorting center, packages of different sizes with the tags of "China Post" are seen everywhere.

According to Kedem, packages originating from China's AliExpress are not delivered directly from China to Israel and these packages are sent via airports mainly in Europe instead.

That is why Israelis have to wait for at least two or three weeks and even longer, said Kedem, adding that it is worthy waiting because goods from China are cheaper and high quality and the delivery is free.

There are 14 gates in the Modi'in sorting center. After packages arrive at the center, they will be carried by automotive transmission belts and then be scanned and sorted according to cities and districts.

The whole process now usually takes two to three hours, said Amos Ben-Atia, director of the Israel Post Sorting Center at Modi'in. Employees in the center are working from 7am to 8:30 pm in two shifts, but the trucks are working 6 days a week, 20 hours a day.

With the rapid increase of cross-border online packages, the center will put robots into operation to further improve productivity in the future.

"I love shopping from AliExpress, the same to my children," said Aaron Mor, an employee of the center, told Xinhua. He said he just ordered a welding mask from China.