(Yicai Global) April 25 -- Baby milk powder producers and Chinese courier firms are linking arms to resolve the logistical bottleneck that has led to a shortage of urgently needed supplies to Shanghai residents, now entering their fifth week of lockdown. Some firms are able to deliver in as little as two hours now, Yicai Global learned from a series of interviews.

Royal FrieslandCampina has opened an “exclusive green channel for milk power in Shanghai” with Alibaba Group Holding’s e-commerce platform Tmall, a source at the China business of the Amersfoort, Netherlands-based firm told Yicai Global. Products can now be delivered in just two hours if the orders are placed during working hours, and the next morning if placed after-hours, he added.

Online retail giant JD.com has built temporary warehouses for maternal and baby care products and is collaborating with suppliers to ensure the uninterrupted supply to Shanghai, Yicai Global learned. It has accumulated 120,000 items of milk power and diapers from around the country, ready to deploy to customers.

US pharmaceutical company Wyeth is teaming up with Tmall and other online retailers such as JD.com, Meituan and Hema Fresh to ensure that its products reach customers within 48 hours, another company insider told Yicai Global. Mead Johnson’s store on JD.com is up and operating, its China business said. The US firm has resolved transport issues and resumed supply of all products to Shanghai.

The municipal government has also stepped in to ensure supplies. Maternal and baby care products including infant formula are on a list of priority items that require online retailers and supermarkets to give precedence to their distribution and delivery.

Previously, many mothers of newborns were in danger of running out of supplies and infant formula producers had to get their employees to work overtime and hire third-party service providers to try to get their products delivered on time, the sources said. Many of their delivery men were only sleeping four to five hours a night.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor