China

Due to the economic boom the demand for transport and logistic services increases dramatically in China. Experts promise for the Chinese logistics market a more than three times faster growth than for the German market. China offers not only cheap work force. With the accession to the WTO in 2001 the Chinese government liberalizes the logistics market. After outsourcing abroad and the integration of Chinese suppliers into the worldwide supply networks thousands of companies follow to China to open up the huge interior market with products as well as transport and logistic services.

Given the current and anticipated future economic development in China, annual growth rates around 10 % and the opening of the Chinese market to logistics services, foreign logistics service providers are expecting annual growth of 30 % in this particularly lucrative market segment. One of the greatest challenges is the lack of sufficiently qualified Chinese logistics experts. This presents foreign research organizations and enterprises an opportunity to become active in China.

China plays as a production site as well as supply market and as market for final products for European and American companies an increasing role. The attractiveness for logistics service providers is caused by the gigantic market potential and an enormous market increase. The rise of outsourcing activities of shippers is of special relevance for logistics service providers. Enterprises in the logistics sector are confronted with considerable challenges like quantity and quality of the logistics infrastructure or Guanxi.

The People’s Republic of China has developed into an important national economy, which is fully integrated into the world’s economy. China’s apparel industry already leads the world in production and exports. This article describes China’s position within the global apparel industry and shows some effects onto the logistics of the branch. Additionally a project is being introduced which may contribute to solving some problems in intra-logistic processes of the branch.