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Nanjing: Preparatory work for the construction of an express and logistics air hub, set to be the largest and most sophisticated in Asia, has kicked off in the capital of East China's Jiangsu Province.
Officials from the State Postal Bureau and the Nanjing municipal government have already started work on acquiring land and discussing construction plans for the China Post's Express & Logistics Air Hub, said sources from the Nanjing Municipal Postal Bureau.
The State Postal Bureau and Jiangsu provincial government signed the contract for the express and logistics air hub project at Nanjing's Lukou International Airport on May 29.
The air hub, which will open in 2008, will consist of a freight terminal for delivery planes, cutting-edge sorting and distribution equipment, and customs and security facilities, said a report on the Express Mail Service website. With a total investment of several billion yuan, the air hub, which is set to be completed in 2008, will handle and distribute domestic and international express mail service (EMS) items, and will load, sort, check and give customs clearance to postal items within four hours.
The daily handling capacity of the centre will reach two million items in 2015, with the fleet of delivery planes set to rise from 12 to 40, according to the report.
Jiangsu Economic Post quoted China Post Director Liu Andong as saying that Nanjing was chosen after careful evaluation.
"Jiangsu Province, as well as the entire Yangtze River Delta, is one of the most powerful economic engines in the country, with a huge demand for worldwide EMS. And Nanjing, with its convenient transport links with all parts of the country, would greatly assist the expansion of our EMS endeavours," said Liu.
Jiangsu Governor Liang Baohua added that the project would upgrade the province's modern service industry, adding to Jiangsu's overall competitiveness.
Market analysts believe that the project is a bid by China Post to increase its shrinking market share amid increasingly heated competition with foreign and domestic delivery giants.
Since China opened up its express delivery sector last December in line with its commitments to the World Trade Organization, international delivery companies such as DHL, FedEx, TNT and UPS have entered the country and are understood to already control more than 60 per cent of the market, according to Shanghai Securities News.