ROAD networks in China are the new focus of global logistics service providers in search for new markets, reports the UK's Transport Intelligence.

    "The global financial climate has made more companies focus on China's domestic growth. A market already sizeable is set to grow immensely over the next few years," said CEVA north Asia vice president Ditlev Blicher, typifying the general mood.

    "Most global logistics providers established themselves in the ports of China over the past two decades and were part of the export boom of China. Now growth is expected to shift toward the domestic markets.," said Mr Blicher.

    Container port development, once the focus of national development, is now slowing, said the Ti report, replaced by economic expansion in China's western regions.

    Andy Weber, Kuenhe + Nagel Asia Pacific CEO, told The Container Shipping Manager that his firm, rated the world's largest forwarder, was focusing on development in western China, looks to make significant advances against "local heroes" as he calls domestic rivals.

    Large urban sprawls, typified by Chongqing on the upper reaches of the Yangtze have been earmarked for major development by Beijing, encouraged by the high costs of electronics assembly in coastal cities, and the concurrent development of more affordable factory output from the interior.

    Ti noted that the new emphasis reflects the solid growth in domestic GDP and rising consumer demand across the breadth of China.

    For more than a decade, thousands of miles of new roads have been laid down and old ones upgraded to best-in-class levels. Now logistics service providers such as K+N, Toll, CEVA and Kerry have established capabilities.

    Hong Kong's Kerry has announced both the expansion of its Chongqing logistics centre, increasing its capacity to 83,000 square metres, and has set up an automotive logistics centre in Hefei 200 kilometres west of Nanjing. It has also opened a new logistics centre in Wuxi outside Shanghai.

    Swiss-based Panalpina now offers a through container service, enabling goods to remain in the same sealed containers throughout the entire journey. Only the trailers are exchanged. This service appears to be pitched at "high-end products" being moved either through the container terminals on the coast or from south east Asia.

    The service connects big cities in western China, notably Chengdu and Chongqing which Panalpina suggests struggle to find adequate capacity for air and ocean transport.
 
    Dutch forwarders CEVA has also expanded its presence with CEO John Pattullo speaking recently of his company's focus on greater outsourcing potential. Much of CEVA's strength is due to its Anji-TNT joint venture with the Chinese automotive manufacturer SAIC.

    The focus has shifted to domestic Chinese consumer spending, said Ti, and not as much of exports, but to serve China's growing and ever demanding consumer market as it makes it way from developing world status to into a fully blown developed economy.
 

(source:www.schednet.com)