ESC President Roman Stiftner commented on the increasing market power of Chinese logistics companies. In his interview to the BVL magazine he stated that the developments in China have been moving more and more towards state control and already for some time.
“In the past, we hoped, says Roman, that a free-market economy could develop in China. But this does not fit in with the new five-year plan, which focuses even more clearly than before on decoupling from abroad and on strengthening domestic companies. Innovation and efficiency are, thus, slowed down and not demanded. If the possibility of freely choosing service providers is now to be eliminated, we regret this very much. Compatibility with the market economy, as we have it in Europe, seems to be increasingly in danger. There is more and more competition between systems.”
“As for the Chinese logistics market, the China Logistics Group aims to mitigate the supply chain problem. At the ESC, we do see the potential for a more productivity with a one-stop shop.
Our most important goal is to maintain the logistic chains. In doing so, we will carefully monitor all players. We see that China is already heavily investing in Europe, for example in the important port of Piraeus with a direct access to the infrastructure and the hinterland. Our experience has shown that the level playing field, i.e., equal and fair conditions of competition for all, is not always given. Together with the European Commission, we need to improve the situation and be careful not to abuse the market at the border.”