FedEx plans new China hub

FedEx plans new China hub    FedEx Express said Wednesday it plans to build a major hub for the Asia Pacific region in Guangzhou, China that will become the primary hub in the region by 2008.
   The new Asia Pacific hub will be built at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, which is located in Southern China. FedEx said the new hub would “assume and expand the current activities of the existing hub in the Philippines, beginning in December 2008.”
   FedEx said it would continue to maintain its presence in the Philippines, where Manila and Cebu “will remain integral parts of the FedEx AsiaOne network.” A company statement noted FedEx is in the process of developing a regional center and expanding an operations gateway in Manila.
   The Guangzhou facility will cost an estimated $150 million. It will have a total floor space of 82,000 square meters located on a piece on land that is about 155 acres. FedEx estimated the facility will have 1,200 employees at start-up and will be capable of sorting 24,000 packages per hour.
   Citing the Boeing World Air Cargo Forecast for 2004-2005, FedEx said projections indicate Asia will remain the world’s fastest-growing regional air freight market, expected to grow 8.5 percent each year until 2023. Air freight from China to the United States is expected to grow at an average of 9.6 percent a year over the next 20 years. Traffic from China to Europe is predicted to grow almost as rapidly, at a rate of 9.3 percent over the same period.