The dynamic growth of the Chinese express market may drop back this year due to the impact of theslowing US economy on demand, according to logistics experts. Local players could be hit
harder than multinationals.The Logistics Association China predicted that integrators such as DHL and FedEx willprobably benefit from this year’s summer Olympics in Beijing and reinforce their market position,Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. But smaller, Chinese-owned companies with weaker financescould be impacted by declining demand.
According to DHL Express China, the first signs of slowing growth appeared during 2007 asdemand from the USA weakened. Some companies have changed their supply chain away from air-based tomore sea-based transportation in order to reduce logistics costs, the report said.
FedEx China, however, said more optimistically that the Chinese market is independent ofworld trends to a certain extent and the domestic express market would continue to show stablegrowth.
Meanwhile, new regulations governing standards in the express sector came into force at thestart of January according to Chinese information sources. The maximum transit time for domesticintra-city express is now three days. Other rules reportedly cover employment conditions andservice fees.
In another development, express companies in the Chinese capital, including DHL, FedEx andTNT, have formed the Beijing Express Association, according to the Beijing Times newspaper.
