Buying aircraft is so 2010. SF Express invests US$5.9 billion on a freight airport in China
The airport underlines the Chinese logistics services provider’s expanding air freight business to become a front runner in China’s rapidly growing but competitive delivery business
SF Express, China’s largest privately owned logistics service provider, has received a go-ahead to build the first freight airport in Asia, taking a step forward in creating China’s own FedEx.
The airport, to be based in Ezhou City in central China’s Hubei province, can handle 2.45 million tonnes of cargo and 1 million passengers by 2025, SF said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday.
The total investment would be valued at 37.26 billion yuan (US$5.9 billion) with SF and the Hubei provincial government responsible for the fundraising, it added.
“The location is good and the airport will be able to connect with nearly all developed areas in China,” said Zhao Xiaomin, an angel investor and independent researcher on the mainland’s logistics sector. “Construction of an airport will by all means give SF a boost in expanding its delivery business and improve services.”
Shenzhen-listed SF, founded by billionaire Wang Wei, is dubbed as China’s answer to global logistics giants FedEx and UPS (United Parcel Services). It’s the second largest freight delivery in the country after state-owned China Post.
The package delivery company also has its own fleet of 31 cargo aircraft, of which 13 are owned by its subsidiary SF Airlines.