In spite of the global recession, China managed to demonstrate impressive growth in its logistics and freight transport infrastructure in 2009, as quoted in the China Logistics Development Report published in 2010. This represents a ray of sunshine in a freight forwarding sector that has been faced with difficult trading in recent times due to the difficult economic conditions worldwide. China has suffered from a reduction in the demand for Chinese imports in the United States, Europe and Japan. However, the long term prospects for China and international freight transport look promising, when taken as part of a longer term view and in the light of current levels of investment in freight services rods, railways, airports,ports and dock facilities.The overall total for all logistics economic activity in China was almost Yuan ninety trillion, which is more than 4 times the result achieved ten years ago, showing growth right across the country. Spending by both the Chinese Government and the non state sector in freight transport infrastructure building has resulted in new airports, railway stations, roads, container ports and logistics centres that set a new standard worldwide and have created advantage for the shipping company and freight forwarding companies.Some examples of the steps forward to create a better future for freight forwarding in China include the new sea to rail cross modal service called the Coastal Express which has been inaugurated by the Shanghai Railway Administration, Ningbo Port group and China Railway Container Transport Corp. The service runs between Ningbo Beilun Port Area Station and Wenzhou West, running at 100 Kilometres per hour completing the route in under four hours.Indeed, rail is expected to become China's most heavily used freight transport method in the future as China embraces high speed rail services. Rail transport is now the subject of considerable government spending and most freight and shipping companies will be watching theseprojects with interest. In Beijing a plan to build high speed links across the country will make available existing railway lines for freight transport, reducing freight forwarding costs for bulk freight.An example of this is the the improvements to the railway link between Jinhua and Wenzhou, which is to be made into a high speed rail link by the time we reach 2014, achieving speeds reaching 200kilometres an hour.Meanwhile, the 189kilometre Jinhua-Wenzhou link is exceeding its original forecasts for freight transport and is amongst the most financially successful railway joint ventures in China. In the world of air freight, there are many improvements happening right now in China.Federal Express has inaugurated a new internal transfer centre for freight services at Hangzhou Airport and UPS intends to create an Asia-Pacific transit hub at Shenzhen Airport. In addition, a new airport to be established at Kunming will create a major hub for Intl air freight flights to South East Asia.However, despite the impressive growth, there are still numerous weaknesses in the Chinese logistics and international freight transport fabric and these are now being confronted as a priority by the Chinese government, because they understand the necessity of encouraging growth for China import. These shortcomings include infrastructure that is sub-standard in some places, insufficient regulation of shipping companies, lack of standardisation and slow adoption of modern technological developments to enable streamlined freight services.Shaken by the world economic recession and its impact on China, Beijing is now focussing on curing these shortcomings as well as upgrading the physical infrastructure for international freight transport.The structural reforms now under way are pervasive and include taking down some market access barriers as well as increasing supervision of the freight transport market. The government has begun support for the expansion of modern shipping companies and freight services companies that adhere to strict standards for service and operating performance.This will be especially significant for the areas of China that are most dependent on trading partners for China imports, such as Shanghai and the Pearl River Delta, which includes China's second largest port at Shenzhen This is where Shenzhen the number two port is located}.Tolls for cargo movements between Chinese provinces are also due for lowering. Benefits will also be seen in other areas such as South West China, which has also greatly upgraded its transport infrastructure, and North East China, which has become China's gateway to Russia, with ports such as Manzhouli benefiting from the resurgence in Russia, increased demand for China imports and improved relations between the two countries.So although economic conditions have been difficult due to the global recession, China makes ongoing investments in its freight services industry and this looks good for the future.
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In spite of the global recession, China managed to show impressive growth in its logistics and freight transport infrastructure in 2009, as quoted in the China Logistics Development Report published in 2010
Stephen Willis is Managing Director of RW Freight Services a UK based freight transport company, established in 1971 and operating worldwide freight forwarding services including specialist freight services to and from China
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