St. Louis took big steps last week in its continuing efforts to become the “Gateway to the East” and make Lambert-St. Louis International Airport a hub for trade with China.
The Midwest-China Hub Commission announced on Jan. 18 that China Cargo Airline is negotiating and studying the use of Lambert airport as an international air cargo hub. Then two days after Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Chicago on Jan. 20, Chinese government representatives traveled to St. Louis to sign a memorandum of understanding with local business leaders.
“This ceremony was as important as the airline announcement,” said Mike Jones, chairman of the Midwest-China Hub Commission, which is a collaboration between regional civic and business leaders formed in 2009. “This is welcome news and a key benchmark we have been diligently working toward.”
In a two-day delegation with Shanghai officials Saturday, Yang Quoqiang, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago, announced that officials from the Chinese airline will arrive in St. Louis on Feb. 20.
“This is the news we’ve been waiting for,” said Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, director of the airport.
China Cargo Airlines is now China’s largest cargo airline and one of the largest in Asia, Yang said. In December, China Eastern Airline Corporation merged its three cargo subsidiaries – China Cargo Airlines, Shanghai Airlines Cargo and Great Wall Airlines – into China Cargo.
The airline’s arrival will be a follow-up to President Hu’s many negotiations in the United States, he said.
President Hu’s visit brought the approval of several U.S.-China deals worth more than $45 billion. This included a $19 billion contract with Boeing for 200 airplanes, and an agreement with St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corporation to develop “clean energy centers” in China. Overall, Chinese companies signed 70 contracts for $25 billion in U.S. exports from 12 states.
Chinese officials at the ceremony Saturday noted the importance of Hu choosing to visit Chicago, despite the bids from other U.S. cities for his visit. Jones said that the president recognized the importance of being in the middle of the country.
“Half of America is in between the Rocky Mountains and the Allegheny River,” Jones said, “and if you are going to have a relationship with the U.S. you have to be in the middle.”
Though China’s visit to St. Louis shows promise for the hub plan, critics say that the hub’s success depends on whether the shipping industry welcomes St. Louis into the international freight circle.
Currently most international freight moves through few airports, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami. They all have more sophisticated ground facilities and flights options than St. Louis. Jones said there is no question that to be successful St. Louis will have to find ways to influence the shipping industry. However, China is a unique partner who has a strong market presence, he said.
“There’s more work to be done,” he said. “Just because the plane lands, you can’t start playing ‘Happy days are here again.’ It means we have the opportunity.”
In his speech Saturday, Sha Hailin, deputy secretary general of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, said that St. Louis had geographic advantages.
“I believe that Shanghai and St. Louis have a lot of cooperative possibilities in terms of doubling investment and doubling trade,” Sha said.
At the ceremony, Jones recognized Paul McKee Jr., owner of McEagle Properties, for his vision of the air hub he had four years ago. McKee’s attorney and partner Steve Stone of Stone Leyton and Gershman helped take the idea a step further. Stone contacted his cousin Stephen Perry, the CEO of the British-Chinese trade group London Export Corporation, who helped St. Louis to negotiate its bid with China.
The commission learned about the Chinese airline’s decision last week after the London Export – on behalf of the commission – met with officials from the Civil Aviation Administration China.
Jones said St. Louis is in the process of repositioning its economy, just as it did 150 years ago. Back then, the region’s decision to build the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River to expand the railroad system made St. Louis a manufacturing and logistical center in the 21st century economy, he said.
“It’s important that we make an infrastructural decision again,” Jones said. “With the outreach to China, we have the opportunity to reposition St. Louis again. We have the opportunity to have a Gateway to the East and bring China to the Midwest.”
The memorandum of understanding was signed by Richard Fleming, president and CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association (who will be leaving the RCGA); Tim Nowak, executive director of the World Trade Center Saint Louis; and Huang Feng, vice president Shanghai Foreign Overseas Investment Development Board.
Though not present at the ceremony, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill said, “China’s expanding middle class could be a huge market for American exports, and that’s what we are trying to tap into.”
U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, also not at the event, said, “St. Louis offers the perfect location, ideal space, and a strong workforce for this hub, and I look forward to the increased agriculture and manufacturing job creation and economic development that this initiative will bring to our state.”Â
