China's first airport-based bonded logistics center will begin
operation in the first quarter of next year and is expected to make
Beijing an important Northeast Asian air cargo transportation
hub.
The bonded area is a key part of a 3-square-kilometer airport
logistics park to be completed by the end of next year. The Beijing
Airport City Logistics Park will involve a total investment of 3.6
billion yuan (US$456 million).
"The logistics park, together with the ongoing third expansion
of the Beijing airport, will serve the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games,"
said Desmond Shum, chief executive officer of the Airport City
Logistics Park Co Ltd (ACL). ACL is responsible for planning,
developing and managing the park.
The logistics park is expected to improve the cargo transport
competitiveness of the Beijing Capital International Airport,
challenging South Korea's Incheon and Tokyo's Narita airports.
"Beijing could rank No. 1 in terms of air transport connectivity
in major airports of Northeast Asia, but it falls behind airports
in South Korea and Japan in terms of cargo transportation," said
Shum, indicating the main reasons are scattered logistics-related
services, complicated customs clearance procedures and labor
inefficiency.
South Korea's Incheon International Airport handled 2.15 million
tons of cargo last year and was ranked the fifth-largest cargo
airport by the Airports Council International. But more than half
of the cargo, of which China was a major source, did not come from
South Korea and was transferred to other parts of the world via
Incheon.
Beijing airport transported 782,066 tons of cargo last year.
"We want to bring that cargo back," Shum said.
The logistics park, located at the north end of the airport's
second runway, has five functional areas: a bonded zone, cargo
terminals, an express cargo center, an import/export air cargo
customs surveillance zone and a comprehensive office complex.
The bonded zone, the first to begin operation, is like a free
port in which imported goods can be held or processed free of
customs duties before they are re-exported.
The logistics park will provide "one-stop customs clearance" for
companies doing international trade, ACL said. It aims to help
goods flow more smoothly by reducing red tape and setting up
efficient co-ordination mechanisms among foreign trade-related
agencies in customs, quarantine, warehousing, transportation and
financial services.
Shum said the Chinese government's initiative to create a new
economic growth engine in north China rivaling Shenzhen and
Shanghai brings unprecedented opportunities and will generate huge
cargo traffic for Beijing airport.
Analysts said the airport logistics park would serve as an
engine for the economic growth of Beijing.
"The logistics park would directly create 7.4 billion yuan
(US$937 million) in gross domestic product (GDP) for Beijing and
the airport-related economy would contribute 5.49 percent of
Beijing's GDP in 2015," said Zhang Junkuo, a senior researcher at
the Development Research Center of the State Council.
ACL is a joint venture between Capital Airports Holding Co (CAH)
and the Shunyi district government.
CAH, the biggest shareholder in Beijing airport, is China's
largest airport group.
(China Daily October 21, 2006)