The first phase of China's biggest logistics center will go into operation next month in Chengdu.

Transfer Logistics is building the 1.5 billion yuan ($219.68 million) center to provide integrated services for road transport companies.

The completed logistics center will be 740 mu (50 hectares) and will be able to handle annual cargo of 24 million tons.

"Road transport companies that move into the logistics center can expect a wide range of services including property and warehouse management, as well as logistics information sharing," Liang Yanping, spokesman for Hangzhou-based Transfer Group, the parent company of Transfer Logistics, said.

"It will serve as a transaction, information, warehousing and distribution center."

Transfer Logistics plans to build a network of 10 logistics bases by 2010.

It launched its first logistics center in Xiaoshan, Hangzhou, in 2002. The center services more than 400 road transport companies. Sales revenue from the Xiaoshan base grew from 31 million in 2003 to 3 billion yuan in 2007.

The company has also invested in another two logistics bases in the Yangtze River Delta. It spent 1.2 billion yuan on a Suzhou center and 200 million yuan on its Ningbo facility. Both centers are still under construction.

An Jianghong, an analyst at Beijing-based Anbound Group, said the industry shift inland from eastern coastal areas presents huge potential for logistics services in the west. Chengdu's location and infrastructure makes it an ideal hub for road and rail transport in the west.

(China Daily September 2, 2008)