| MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2019 | THE STRAITS TIMES | B1

Fabian Koh

There were over 400 reports of ani-mal cruelty made last year, but 90 per cent were later established to in-volve “non-cruelty”.

Among them was an incident in Yishun last November, when a cat was found dead with a puncture wound on its left hind leg. The au-thorities later learnt that it had been attacked by stray dogs.

“The increase in the number of al-leged cruelty cases reported could be attributed to greater awareness of animal welfare, as well as an in-creased willingness to report and provide useful information for our investigation,” said an Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singa-pore (AVA) spokesman.

All animal cruelty reports are in-vestigated, with AVA officers sur-veying the vicinity of the alleged of-fence, interviewing eyewitnesses

and checking footage from closed-circuit television cameras.

The authority will also work with animal welfare groups, such as the Society for the Prevention of Cru-elty to Animals (SPCA), and other agencies when needed.

In 2017, 92 per cent of the 377 re-ports turned out to be non-cruelty cases, up from 78 per cent in 2016.

Established cases of cruelty ac-counted for 4 per cent of reports last year, with another 6 per cent of cases still pending an outcome.

The Straits Times had sought the figures from AVA following the Pla-tinium Dogs Club saga.

The operator of the pet boarding facility was arrested last month for alleged animal welfare offences af-ter pet owners complained that their dogs were mistreated.

Dr Jaipal Singh Gill, executive di-rector of the SPCA, said the public needs to know when to call the au-thorities.

“If comfortable, for simpler cases, one can speak to the pet’s owner. We have seen cases that have had positive outcomes when neigh-bours assist to resolve issues,” he said. “If unsure, err on the side of the animal and make a report.”

Dr Gill added that while there are cases that involve outright cruelty, there are also those that are welfare issues, such as the neglect of pets.

Meanwhile, there are initiatives by AVA – including minimum age re-quirements for buying animals and pre-sale screening at pet shops – to minimise the number of pets being bought on impulse.

The Code of Animal Welfare, in-troduced in 2016 for pet businesses and in 2017 for pet owners, com-prises minimum standards and best practices on animal housing, man-agement and care.

While it is not an offence to not fol-low the code, the code can be used to support prosecution or other en-

forcement actions for animal wel-fare cases.

Nee Soon GRC MP Louis Ng, who founded Animal Concerns Re-search and Education Society, said that not many people know about the code.

He said the authorities could fur-ther simplify and present aspects of the code to the public more regu-larly, such as through social media.

Commenting on the figures re-leased by AVA, Mr Ng said the in-crease shows that more people are aware of animal welfare issues, a sign that “society has progressed”.

He said AVA should release more in-depth information on investiga-tions into alleged animal cruelty.

“People need to understand. You gain more trust if you can reveal more about the investigation’s pro-ceedings and how you come to the conclusions.”

fabkoh@sph.com.sg

• A 50-year-old man was fined $16,000 last month for throwing a cat and a kitten out of a Housing Board flat window in Boon LayDrive in July 2017. Krishnasamy Kaliyappan was also disqualified from owning a pet for 12 months.

• A 39-year-old woman was jailed for four weeks in August last year for killing a pet bird at Block 101 Rivervale Walk. Tran Thi Thuy

Hang had hit her stepdaughter’s pet bird several times with a laundry pole in October 2017, because it bit her right cheek.

• In October 2017, a 59-year-old man was jailed for eight weeks after causing the death of a cat in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4. Ow Ah Lon admitted to throwing the stray cat on the floor of his home, before tossing it down the rubbish chute, in March 2017.

Tiffany Fumiko Tay

Missed deliveries, lost packages and delayed shipments are the bane of every online shopper.

And these problems – which had surfaced during the just-concluded seasonal peak – could well increase if steps are not quickly taken, warn logistics players.

One measure already in the pipe-line is a partnership between SingPost and some of its competi-tors to offer customers the option of receiving purchases through any delivery node in the network. Called The Last Mile Platform, it will be rolled out next month.

Such alliances may be unusual. But it cannot be business as usual.

SingPost saw its postal system strain under the pressure of the re-cent peak season. It saw volumes surge by 30 per cent, double what it expected. On average, it already delivers about three million items a day.

And this volume of deliveries, predicts SingPost group chief execu-tive Paul Coutts, will become the new normal in six months.

Until very recently, e-commerce penetration in Singapore had “actu-ally been quite low”, Mr Coutts told The Straits Times in a recent inter-view.

“But I really believe that it’s now accelerating and taking off.”

According to a 2018 study by Google and Temasek, Singapore’s e-commerce market, which stood at US$1.8 billion (S$2.43 billion) last year, is predicted to grow to US$5 bil-lion by 2025.

Nanyang Business School adjunct associate professor Zafar Momin said that with just 5 to 6 per cent of shopping transacted online in Singa-pore, e-commerce penetration here may appear relatively low com-pared with countries like China (20 per cent) and Britain (16 per cent).

Singapore’s e-commerce sector is, however, expected to show double-digit growth over the coming years, he said.

Lazada, one of the region’s biggest e-commerce players, said that sales for the Singles’ Day event last year were three times that of the year before. Its chief executive in Singa-pore James Chang said it had seen a 60 per cent increase in smaller local businesses joining as sellers in recent months, helping to drive the industry’s “tremendous growth”.

Mr Prashant Dadlani, chief execu-tive of retail logistics start-up blu, noted that rapid growth is not necessarily sustainable, adding that e-commerce now “is fuelled heavily by promotions, price discounting and cross-subsidising”.

Mr Erik Cheong, co-founder of Park N Parcel, which has 1,600 col-lection points, is even more blunt.

In the overcrowded market, he said, “many third-party logistics providers are offering services at a low rate with thin margins or even making a loss per delivery”.

There are now dozens of opera-tors offering thousands of collection points across the island. But the market is fragmented and messy, while intense competition for resources calls for more industry collaboration, players said.

Parcel Santa, which provides par-cel locker services to 300 condo-miniums in Singapore, started in 2017. Co-founder Jim Huang said that while traditional retail relies on malls and shops as consolidation points for goods, online shopping sees the delivery of goods to indivi-dual doorsteps, which is unsustain-able.

The only way for logistics to keep pace with e-commerce growth is to re-establish “consolidation points” such as parcel lockers, he said.

While there will always be de-mand for doorstep deliveries as a premium service, he said the future blueprint for last-mile delivery in Singapore will likely be a hybrid model that includes lockers and community-based deliveries.

Courier services are also finding ways to beat the manpower crunch and reduce missed deliveries.

Ninja Van, for example, has a network of about 1,000 pick-up and drop-off points, including neigh-bourhood shops, in addition to

offering doorstep deliveries.On-demand delivery platforms

like GoGoVan, which has a regis-tered fleet of 20,000 in Singapore, and GrabExpress, which rolled out its beta trial here last year, rely on shared resources.

GrabExpress uses GrabFood’s motorcycle fleet, allowing the riders to “reduce idle time and earn more income”, a spokesman said.

Some operators feel there should be greater collaboration in the indus-try, especially during peak seasons.

The Last Mile Platform, as well as the Locker Alliance, are leading the charge to create a more cohesive

delivery network for consumers in a highly competitive space, where some players are at risk of suffering losses.

SingPost’s Last Mile Platform will integrate partner courier services, parcel lockers and collection points in all South-east Asian countries, and allow retailers to offer customers the option of receiving purchases through any delivery node in the network.

The Locker Alliance is a govern-ment initiative to break down the barrier of locker operators having separate computer systems and tie-ups.

A year-long pilot was rolled out in December which lets customers of online retailers such as Lazada and Qoo10 have their items delivered to any of the 62 locker sites at Housing Board blocks in Punggol and Bukit Panjang, as well as at eight MRT stations.

Mr Christopher Ong, managing director of DHL Express Singapore, which is part of the pilot, said that rolling it out across the island will “give customers more options as well as a more consistent user expe-rience”.

tiffanyt@sph.com.sg

An abused cat was found dead in a rubbish chute in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 in March 2017.PHOTO: AGRI-FOOD AND VETERINARY AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE

Players look to collaboration amid intense competition for resources, massive volumes and fragmented market

Fine, jail terms for offenders

E-commerce boom reshaping delivery sector in Singapore

GEORGE THENDIABETIC’S HEALTH IMPROVES

UNDER TEAMLET CARE B2

Goods �ow to mall/shop

Goods �ow directly to consumer

NOTE: *Not an exhaustive list

The recent holiday peak seasonsaw e-commerce volumes increaseby 30 per cent for SingPost, a level it expects to be the norm in six months. This follows a similar trend across South-east Asia as more people turn to shopping online. The Straits Times looks at how last-mile delivery is evolving to meet demand.

The decentralisationof shopping

SINGAPORE’S E-COMMERCE MARKET SIZE

E-COMMERCE DELIVERIES ACROSS SOUTH-EAST ASIA(PER DAY)

US$1.8 billion(S$2.43billion)

2025 (projected)

US$5 billion2018

800,000

2018

3 million2015

Have parcel deliveredto a nearby home or store and pick it up later

Doorstep and letter-box deliveries

Park N Parcel1,600 residential and retail collection points

7-Eleven350 outlets

Ninja Van network1,000 pick-up and drop-off points, including SPH Buzz convenience stores

Postmen have to make between 20 and 60 doorstep deliveries daily, on top of delivering 3,000 mail items

Sources: PARCEL SANTA, SINGPOST, GOOGLE, TEMASEK HOLDINGS,NINJA VAN, PARK N PARCEL, 7-ELEVEN, BLU, IMDA

PHOTOS: ST FILE STRAITS TIMES GRAPHICS

Smart parcel lockers – partner couriers deliver to locker stations for self-collection

SingPost’s POPStation lockers160 locations including community centres and malls

bluPortMore than 120 locations, including Cheers convenience stores and petrol stations

Parcel SantaAt 300 selected condominiums

Locker Alliance70 locker sites at HDB blocks and MRT stations undera Government pilot project

Collection points*

BEFORE E-COMMERCE

AFTER E-COMMERCE

Mall/ShopGoods

consolidation pointFactory Warehouse Delivery

Select a delivery option or entera shipping address generated bya logistics provider

Postal/Courier service picks up item

ConsumerSpot

transaction

Animal cruelty: Over 400 reports made last year

While there will always be demand for doorstep deliveries as a premium service, he said the future blueprint for last-mile delivery in Singapore will likely be a hybrid model that includes lockers and community-based deliveries.