China's Didi hires van drivers for logistics services
BEIJING (Reuters) - Ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is hiring van and truck drivers in ten Chinese cities as it plans to join the already crowded on-demand logistics industry to diversify its business.
In a hiring notice, Didi said it is hiring 580 van and truck drivers in ten cities including Beijing, Shanghai, eastern Hangzhou and southern Shenzhen for its on-demand logistics services.
Didi sorts the the vehicles in five categories, from small vans to 4.2 metre-long trucks. It requires drivers to have certain licences and will offer to train them, it said.
Didi, which is backed by SoftBank <9984.T>, launched delivery services in 21 Chinese cities in March during the lockdown.
Didi declined to comment. Its U.S. peer Uber Technologies Inc <UBER.N> is operating Uber Freight service.
On-demand logistics service in China is crowded, with Manbang, Huolala and 58.com Inc's <WUBA.N> Kuaigou as market leaders.
(Reporting by Yilei Sun, Yingzhi Yang and Brenda Goh, editing by Louise Heavens)
