FedEx Asia President David Cunningham and Liu Zijing, a senior official with Guangdong Airport Management Corporation attend the signing ceremony of the construction of the Asian Pacific transport hub.

FedEx Corp signed a contract with Guangdong Airport Management Corporation in July, announcing the opening of its Asian Pacific transport hub in Guangzhou's Baiyun International Airport. The transport hub would be the largest of FedEx Corp's bases outside of its home market in the United States and will become the company's most important investment in the Asian Pacific region, said Frederick W. Smith, chairman and CEO with the FedEx Corporation.

Construction of the transport hub, covering a total area of 82,000 square meters, will begin in 2006 and be completed by 2008. The transport hub will have a capacity of 179,000 express packages, or more than 1,800 tons per day by the year 2010.

Guangdong Airport Management Corporation, also known as the Guangzhou Baiyun Airport Authority, will invest 2.4 billion RMB to build the FedEx hub center, which will include a warehouse, a cargo runway and other facilities for exclusive use by FedEx.

MORE FLIGHTS, HIGHER CARGO THROUGHPUT

FedEx's new Guangzhou hub will connect its businesses in the Asian Pacific region as well as provide access to its entire network. This will bring more business opportunities related to cargo delivery in Guangzhou and the rest of China. Guangdong Airport Management Corporation President Liu Zijing, said FedEx's hub will add another 600,000 annual tons of cargo at Baiyun International Airport. Initially, FedEx will allocate 20 cargo aircrafts at the airport and the Guangzhou hub will offer 150 cargo flights to handle between 12,000 and 15,000 tons of weekly cargo.

HIGH EXPECTATION

Guangzhou is considered a prime location for FedEx's Asian Pacific hub since the city serves as the gateway to the Pearl River Delta, a manufacturing region that takes up 30 to 40 percent of China's foreign trade. In 2004, the cargo and express throughput of China's airports reached 5.526 million tons, up 22.3 percent year on year. The Pearl River Delta ranked second in the domestic air cargo handling market, next to the Yangzi River Delta.

The Pearl River Delta handled a total of 3 million tons of air cargo delivered in a single year. Data revealed that cargos from the Pearl River Delta amounted to 80 percent of the cargo throughput of the Hong Kong Airport, which handles over 2 million tons of air cargos and express packages each year.

Earlier this year, UPS launched its first non-stop Guangzhou-USA cargo flights and its maiden charter flight took place at the Shenzhen Airport in April, 2005. FedEx's move in June further enhanced the province's ambition and ability to develop its air cargo business and logistic industry. The new transport hub will also enable Guangdong to improve its investment environment and enhance cooperation with other provinces and countries.

Editor: Yan