Scheduled for completion in September next year, the facility will have links to Penang International Airport and the area’s developing sea ports.

Seventy-five per cent of the floor space will be devoted to specialist air-conditioned warehousing.

“This is a huge expansion,” said Anthony Fong, U-Freight managing director.

“It is needed to cope with the demands of customers who are eager to export manufactured goods made in Penang.”

The centre is located in the south of Penang on Bayan Lepas Highway.

Warehouses 1-5 will be of differing sizes, from 400-900 square metres, offering customers flexibility, the company said in a statement.

Warehouse 6 is the largest section of the development at 2,239 square metres and is planned as an open space for fast moving bulk items and general storage. It will be equipped with a rotating table, roller-bed conveyor and a scissor-lift for the creation of airline ULDs.

The 352-metre vessel has been christened Arthur Maersk, and is among the largest and most modern container carriers in the world.

The vessel will enter Maersk’s worldwide liner service and is the fourth newbuilding manufactured by Odense Steel Shipyard this year.

“We have improved our web site’s online-connection to our data bases,” said Ingo Hellwig-Delaminsky, the company’s e-business co-ordinator.

On www.senatorlines.com customers can see both, long-term shipping connections as well as links between individual ports and some hinterland-destinations. Customers are required to register online first.

Customers can use several online-features even if they don’t register, the carrier said. The container – the booking – or the B/L number is sufficient for cargo tracking. Sailing lists are also freely accessible.

The company said the booking levy was introduced to encourage customers to use electronic channels.

“The ‘e for free’ fee, which we introduced a year ago because of our appreciable investment in launching and expanding e-booking options, has been a success,” said Dr Andreas Otto, Lufthansa Cargo board member for Marketing and Sales.

Lufthansa said that there was high customer acceptance of electronic booking options such as GF-X, the internet or Traxon/EDI.

In September, traffic, as measured by freight tonne kilometres (FTKs), was up 5.5 per cent compared with the previous corresponding period, International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a release.

Meanwhile, shipments in the Middle East were more impressive with the region recording the best performance in terms of air cargo traffic. IATA said freight growth in the Middle East ranked highest at 15.2 per cent.

Year-on-year growth for the overall international freight market hit 5.5 per cent and was slightly less than August’s 6 per cent increase.

Freight tonne kilometres (FTKs), which measures actual freight traffic, and available tonne kilometres (ATKs), which measures available total capacity, both rose by 2.9 per cent in September

International passenger traffic growth, meanwhile, has increased steadily over the past three months, IATA said.

The service is being bolstered in response to greater demand from customers, according to an executive with the carrier.

“Our new JFK Airport route has exceeded our most optimistic assumptions. We started the service in mid-September and customer response has been such that 10 weeks later, we are doubling our offer, said Ram Menen, Emirates senior vice president for cargo.

The company said that with a 13-15 tonne cargo capacity, plus a full passenger load, the carrier’s smallest wide-bodied aircraft can carry more cargo than a Boeing 737 freighter.

For high-density trade routes such as Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Istanbul, Amman, Chennai and Dhaka, the carrier supplements capacity with three Boeing 747 freighters.

Mr Yap will be responsible for creating a sales network in China and staff recruitment, a company spokesperson said.

Mr Yap joins the international project management team that is responsible for realising Volga-Dnepr’s plans, which include the launching of 747 cargo flights between the Far East and western Europe.

Mr Yap has more than 25 years experience in air cargo services’ sales management in Asia and has previously held senior cargo management positions with China Airlines and Atlas Air.

“We aim to attract the highest quality management team to lead our new project. The appointment of Peter Yap, a respected professional experienced in all fields that are crucial for the future customers of the new company, is a positive step towards achieving our aim,” said Alexey Isaikin, president of Volga-Dnepr.

He will be responsible for developing marketing strategies and implementing marketing programmes, including advertising, promotion and marketing communications. “United is committed to achieving and maintaining a revenue leadership position in the airline industry,” said John Tague, executive vice president for customer.

“While we’ve made much progress in recent months, the addition of Martin White as a new leader of our marketing initiatives will bring energy, creativity and enhanced focus to our efforts.”

The new service, which was launched on October 27, calls at Shanghai, Xiamen and Manila (north and south).

It takes 48 hours to sail from Xiamen to Manila, and is the fastest service between the two ports.

A study done by the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) points out that despite the introduction of new, direct scheduled container shipping services to some 18 mainland ports, cargo from Hong Kong docks to the US has grown steadily and significantly over the past two years.

Last year, Hong Kong-US cargo shipments increased 26.4 per cent to more than 630,000 FEU, from nearly 499,000 FEU the previous year, the study said, citing data from the Journal of Commerce Port Import-Export Reporting Service (PIERS).

And in the first three quarters of this year, shipments to the US exceeded 504,000 FEU – a 10.4 per cent increase over the same period in 2002 and 37.8 per cent higher than the whole of 2001.

Third-quarter cargo totals from the beginning of the traditional peak season, reveal consistent growth.

In Q3 2001, 151,000 FEU were bound for the US and this figure grew to 188,000 FEU during the same quarter of 2002. This year, the third quarter total rose to 192,000 FEU, the report said

Shipments of electronic goods, furniture/parts, textiles, plastic goods, accessories/handbags, sports goods and footwear posted double-digit growth from January to September.

The report added foreign companies have secured more than 60 per cent of China’s express market.

Logistics still remains a small industry in terms of scale and the level of development is low, the report said.

Last year, China spent CNY$1.9 trillion (US$229.5 billion) on logistics services, representing 20 per cent of its gross domestic product.

The report said two thirds of the world’s 50 biggest retailers have entered the China market and that many of them have set up buying offices. This has helped to speed up the development of China’s logistics sector.

In the next five years, operators forecast, China’s express market will expand at a rate of 30 per cent annually.

Over the past few years, FedEx, TNT and UPS have expanded at an average rate of over 30 per cent annually. DHL, which was the first express company to enter China, has a 36 per cent share of the mainland market, the report said.