Major delivery company TNT launched an air cargo service between Chongqing and Belgium city Lige Tuesday, a link that is expected to help build closer ties between the fast-growing high-tech production center in southwest China and the important electronics consumer market of Europe.

The direct flight will act as a rapid logistics route to deliver mainly IT products from the city to the European market.

"Chongqing is developing as an important high-tech manufacturing center in western China. We are pleased to contribute to the high-tech industry's development by providing the pioneering international delivery services between Chongqing and Europe," said Michael Drake, regional managing director of TNT North Asia.

The central government's resolve to develop a wealthier and more prosperous western China has provided opportunities for Chongqing's development.

In the first eight months of this year, exports from Chongqing rose 62.1 percent year-on-year to US$4.2 billion. The city's GDP increased by 17.6 percent in the first half of 2010 from a year earlier to US$54.51 billion.

"Transportation and infrastructure are the facilities most needed during Chongqing's ongoing process of industrial transformation and upgrading from traditional manufacturing to the high-tech sector," said Yang Zhiqing, an industrial analyst from Guangfa Securities.

The new direct flight will further highlight Chongqing's advantage in low-cost human resources compared with those of coastal cities, making it more popular in efforts to attract renowned overseas enterprises, Yang said.

Improved infrastructure and upgrading in the clean and high-tech industries have already attracted big names to build their production bases in the city, analysts said.

These include companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Foxconn, Cisco and Inventec. Currently, the city receives orders for 40 million notebooks each year and its production volume will rise to 80 million notebooks in three years.

"Chongqing doesn't hide its ambition to be the industry leader among western cities," Yang said.

"It has worked out a blueprint to become the nation's largest comprehensive tariff-free zone and the largest production base of electronics products in the western region," he said.

In the past eight years, Chongqing has invested nearly 250 billion yuan (US$37.52 billion) in infrastructure.

It has set logistics facilities in sectors including its port, high-speed railway, highways and airport to ride on the next economic boom that is mainly expected to occur in the nation's western areas, analysts said.

"China is a strategically vital market for TNT globally," said Michael Drake, regional managing director of TNT North Asia.

"By leveraging our strengths and capability in both international express and domestic road transportation services, we are in a unique market position to offer customers a combined delivery service that can meet both growing export and domestic demand across the country," he said.

The new TNT service will involve Boeing 747 aircraft for the 12-hour cargo flight, company sources said. There will be three flights each week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. A daily flight is expected to start by the end of this year.

Since September, TNT has increased its dedicated flight frequency between China and Europe to a daily service. TNT is also strengthening its leading Chinese road distribution service.

(China Daily October 27, 2010)