Cosco Group and five other investors have expressed interest in a majority stake in Piraeus port, the largest one in Greece. Cosco’s initial interest for a 67% stake in the port is further highlighting Chinese investors’ appetite for Greek assets as the state sells off parts of its businesses to help balance the country’s books. Greece last month picked a Chinese-backed bid to develop a prime seaside property at the former Athens airport Hellenikon. Cosco’s subsidiary, Cosco Pacific, the world’s fifth-largest container terminal operator, sealed a deal with Greece five years ago to run and upgrade two of the state-owned Piraeus port’s piers for 35 years, aiming to turn the port into a regional hub. Last year, it agreed to invest an extra €230 million to boost the port’s handling capacity over seven years and in return, it would stop paying fees to the port. The largest U.S. terminal operator Ports America, Dutch container terminal operator APM Terminals, private equity firm Cartesian Capital Group, Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services and close-ended investment company Utilico Emerging Markets also submitted non-binding bids for the port. Athens is aiming for privatization revenue of €1.5 billion this year by selling the stake in the port and privatizing its railway operator Trainrose, rolling stock company Rosco and some regional airports, among other assets. Binding offers for the port are expected by the end of this year. Piraeus is one of the top cargo ports in the Mediterranean. Cargo traffic rose 15% to 3.1 million TEU last year. Despite the crisis, the port’s net profit rose 12% to €8 million last year, the South China Morning Post reports.

The train service between Chongqing and Duisburg in Germany is twice as fast as transport on the sea route and only half as expensive as air freight. Therefore, the train connection, which the Chinese are already describing as the new Silk Road, has improved trade between China and Germany.

• Total length of 11,179 km.
• Going through six countries in about 16 days: China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany.
• The first coordination meeting was held in Chongqing in November 2010.
• The first train on the railway to travel to Moscow arrived on Jan 28, 2011.
• The first train on the railway to travel to Duisburg, Germany, arrived on March 19, 2011.
• Regular train services on the railway started on June 30, 2011.
• The first return train on the railway left Duisbrug for China on February 28, 2013. It passed through Poland, Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan before arriving at in Chongqing.
• The first train on the railway not limited to carrying only IT products ran on April 8, 2014. It can carry all products to be exported to countries along the line and will transport products from regions around Chongqing to Europe.
• From the first train, which ran on January 28, 2011, to January 24, 2014, the railway has seen a total of 96 runs. During this time the trains transported 8,434 containers of exports worth USD3 billion, according to the Chongqing logistics office.
• The transcontinental railway between China and Germany is the first train connection between the two countries.
• Since it opened, the number of weekly departures has risen to three.
• Goods transported along the route include electronics, cars and medical equipment.
• One of the challenges will be to further increase the degree of capacity utilization of the train from Duisburg to Chongqing.

Officials in China’s new economic zones are hoping cheap warehousing and hassle-free customs procedures will encourage logistics and storage firms supplying Hong Kong’s domestic market to relocate to the Pearl River Delta. But not many firms seem interested in moving. “It is almost unheard of to have any product that is for local Hong Kong consumption to be stored in China because the turnaround lead time is not workable,” said Raymond Chan, General Manager of logistics firm Cargo Freight Services. Last year the central government announced plans to establish three development zones in Nansha, Hengqin and Qianhai along the Pearl River, part of a wider effort to develop and integrate southern China, Hong Kong and Macao into a single economic hub. Initiatives including preferential tax treatment and liberalized financial reforms were pitched as incentives to lure business. Another idea is to create a seamless customs zone connecting Hong Kong to bonded warehouses and free-trade port areas in the delta. “The policy directions have been given out but the details are not yet finished,” said Hong Kong Trade and Development Council Economist Wing Chu. The Qianhai economic zone in Shenzhen has 300 registered logistics firms, including 130 from Hong Kong. This represents 15.2% of companies in the zone, according to local government data from October last year. The 800 square kilometer site at Nansha includes an established logistics park, one of two deep-water ports on the mainland, and a rail-road-sea transport network. Last month Kerry Logistics Network Chairman George Yeo visited Zhuhai seeking land for warehouses. Completion of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge would provide more opportunities for logistics providers as there was a lack of land and warehouse facilities in Hong Kong, Yeo said. Oriental Logistics Managing Director Gilbert Lau said limited warehouse space had contributed to rents doubling in recent years, forcing up consumer prices and pushing logistics operators further into the New Territories. Despite the excess capacity and lower warehouse rents in the mainland’s southern areas, Hong Kong logistics firms are wary of storing goods there given final-mile delivery costs and border formalities, the South China Morning Post reports.

Logistics industry

• Nippon Yusen K.K., the world’s largest carrier of vehicles by sea, is planning to add more logistics centers for trucks in China as part of a multibillion-yen world-wide expansion. Anji Automotive Logistics, a unit of SAIC Motor Co, China’s biggest carmaker, will expand its infrastructure for collecting and distributing cars, according to its website. Anji Automotive is China’s largest car logistics company, transporting more than 2 million vehicles annually. Anji transports cars for SAIC’s ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen. Nippon Yusen transported 1.36 million cars in China in 2013, including some in a venture with Anji. The Tokyo-based company will probably boost trucking of vehicles to 5.7 million worldwide in 2016, from 3.7 million last year, as China’s share is around 40%.

Ports & sea transport

• Large Chinese shipping companies such as China Shipping Container Lines Co and China Merchant Energy Shipping Co reported a net loss of CNY2.65 billion and CNY2.18 billion respectively in March. Chang Jiang Shipping Group Phoenix Co, another large Chinese shipping company, is highly likely to be delisted from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange this year after suffering losses for three consecutive years.

The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce (FCCC) and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) Qingdao Sub-Council organized a conference: “Doing Business in Belgium: Flanders, the heart of Europe” on 24 April 2014 in Qingdao, Shandong province. This session was organized with the support of Flanders Investment & Trade,  the Port of Antwerp, the Province of East Flanders, Ghent University and Dewolf & Partners.

Following a word of welcome by Mr Feng Wenqing, Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade – Qingdao, Mrs Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director, Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce (FCCC), gave an introduction the seminar on Doing Business with Belgium : the heart of Flanders. Following viewing of the movie “Flanders, Small Size, Big Opportunities”, Mrs Isabelle Wang, Investment Deputy, Flanders Investment & Trade, gave an address about ‘Flanders-Gateway to Europe: Trumps of Flanders’ and Mr Luc Arnouts, Chief Operating Officer, Port of Antwerp, talked about “Antwerp, heart of Europe’s shipping & logistics Industry and gateway to 250 million consumers”. “Study at Ghent University: education and research” was introduced by Mr Domien Proost, Chief Representative Beijing Office, University of Ghent and Province of East-Flanders. Mr Jacky Sun, Associate, Dewolf & Partners, talked about “Investing and doing business in Belgium – Legal aspects”. This interesting event was concluded by an exchange of views and a networking reception.