A fair featuring more than 300 logistics firms from 34 countries opened on Sep 19 in Shanghai, pointing up the importance of the city, and the country, in global trade.

Eurogate Group, a top European container port operator based in Germany, said it is expecting China to become a major growth market in the coming years.

"Containers to and from China accounted for 20 percent of Eurogate's total business last year," said Emanuel Schiffer, president of Eurogate Group, which operates the ports of Bremerhaven and Hamburg.

"We also predict that China business will grow by at least 20 percent annually in the coming years, up from the 2.5 million boxes last year," he said.

The company is inviting Chinese firms doing business in Eastern and Central Europe to use Eurogate's ports to access those markets.

"We also plan to establish representative offices in Shanghai and other regions of China from the beginning of 2008," Schiffer said.

Germany-based Dachser GmbH & Co KG, a leading European logistics company, has just set up a wholly owned Shanghai subsidiary to carry out its plans to exploit the market.

The subsidiary will serve as the head office for the company's north China business.

"We want to develop contract logistics further in China from next year," said Christophe Vincent, general manager of Dachser North China. "We plan to set up a unit responsible for building our own warehouses and establish a logistics center next year."

The company, which posted turnover of HK$1 billion (US$125.9 million) in China last year, foresees 30 percent annual growth in the market.

In addition to the six offices in northern China, the company will add an office in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, next year.

China opened its logistics service market to foreign investors at the end of last year, which attracted an increasing number of global players to tap the market and establish networks to serve domestic customers.

Source:佚名