About Transport Logistic China

Transport Logistic China

Transport logistic China is the leading trade fair for logistics, mobility, IT and supply chain management in the Asia-Pacific region, held biennially at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre and organised by Messe München. It is the Asian edition of Munich's transport logistic, the world's leading logistics fair, and its integrated air cargo China component is the largest air cargo industry event in Asia. First staged in 2004 on about 22,000 square metres, the fair grew steadily to host 667 exhibitors from 58 countries and about 25,000 visitors in 2018. After a six-year pandemic break, it returned in June 2024 for its 20th anniversary with over 700 exhibitors across 50,000 square metres, with further editions following in 2026 and the next scheduled for June 2028. The fair covers the entire logistics spectrum — logistics services and real estate, freight transport systems, port and shipping logistics, fresh-produce logistics, logistics equipment and IT and telematics — and is positioned as the gateway through which international companies enter the Chinese market and Chinese companies expand globally.

Origins in 2004 and the Munich Parent Fair

Transport logistic China was established in 2004 as the Asian edition of transport logistic Munich, which Messe München describes as the world's leading trade fair for logistics, mobility, IT and supply chain management. The timing was strategic: China's logistics market was booming as the country's manufacturing and export economy expanded, and Shanghai — home to the world's busiest container port — was its natural location. The first edition occupied approximately 22,000 square metres. From the outset, the fair was conceived as a two-way gateway: an entry platform for international enterprises seeking access to China, and a launchpad for Chinese businesses seeking global expansion. That dual role has remained its defining proposition through two decades. Air cargo China was integrated into the fair from its early years as the component serving the air freight industry, and by 2012 its exhibition area had grown by more than 20 percent in a single cycle, with exhibitors from 41 countries across all five continents at that edition and more than 100 Chinese exhibitors involved — early evidence of the fair's transition from an imported format to a genuinely bilateral marketplace.

Organiser: Messe München and Its Global Logistics Network

The fair is organised by Messe München, the Munich trade fair company whose transport logistic brand anchors a global network of logistics exhibitions. Messe München's stewardship gives the Shanghai edition direct access to the Munich flagship's exhibitor and visitor communities, and its executives frame the China show in strategic terms: Dr. Robert Schönberger, Global Industry Lead at Messe München, described the 2024 return as the moment the fair resumed its role as “a pacemaker for the development of the Eurasian Corridor,” reflecting major shifts in the global economy including nearshoring of industry, digitalisation, ongoing globalisation and climate change. Earlier leadership made the same point in market terms: managing director Eugen Egetenmeir explained in 2012 that the Chinese logistics market's boom and growing domestic importance underpinned the fair's success. Conference partners deepen the network: the German Logistics Association (Bundesvereinigung Logistik) has organised the “Logistics Excellence in China” conference at the fair, and the International Tank Container Organisation (ITCO) participates with its Tank Container Village, underlining the event's international orientation. Since 2019 the fair has also co-located with LogiMAT China, the intralogistics show of EUROEXPO and Landesmesse Stuttgart, adding warehouse and internal-logistics coverage to its transport focus.

Venue and Host City: SNIEC and the Port of Shanghai

The fair is held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) in Pudong, one of China's largest exhibition venues. The host city is central to the fair's pitch: Shanghai is the world's busiest container port, handling — in Messe München's presentation — more than 25 percent of the world's shipping traffic, and it sits at the junction of China's coastal manufacturing belt, the Yangtze River Delta economy and global shipping and air routes. For a logistics fair, that location is substantive rather than decorative: port and shipping logistics exhibitors operate in the city that exemplifies their industry, and international visitors can combine the fair with visits to the port, airports and logistics parks that make Shanghai a living exhibit of Chinese logistics capacity. The 2024 edition's 50,000 square metres and the fair's biennial rhythm at SNIEC keep it among the anchor events of the venue's calendar. Shanghai's role in the Eurasian Corridor — the overland and maritime routes linking China and Europe — is a recurring theme of the fair's conference programme and of Messe München's description of the show as a pacemaker for that corridor's development over two decades.

Growth Through 2018

The fair's pre-pandemic growth was steady and well documented. From about 22,000 square metres in 2004, it expanded edition by edition; the 2012 edition — the 5th transport logistic China, held from 5 to 7 June 2012 at SNIEC — presented the entire logistics value chain from e-commerce to intra-company material flow to freight transport systems on land, water and in the air, with exhibitors from 41 countries and air cargo China alone pointing to a more than 20 percent larger exhibition area. By 2018, the fair hosted 667 exhibitors from 58 countries and about 25,000 visitors — its pre-pandemic benchmark and the baseline against which the post-pandemic return was measured. The growth pattern reflects China's logistics sector itself, which professionalised rapidly through the 2010s as e-commerce, cold chains and integrated supply-chain services expanded. The fair's spectrum broadened in parallel, from its freight-transport core into logistics real estate, fresh-produce logistics and IT and telematics. That 2018 benchmark matters because the organisers explicitly built the 2024 comeback “on the success of 2018,” in floor space, exhibitor numbers and international participation alike.

Air Cargo China: Asia's Largest Air Cargo Event

Air cargo China, the integrated air freight component of transport logistic China, is the largest air cargo industry event in Asia. In 2024 it occupied around 10,000 square metres — larger than ever before — within the fair's 50,000 square metres. Its exhibitor community includes the world's leading cargo airlines and airports: the 2024 edition offered visitors contact with China Southern Airlines, Cargolux, All Nippon Airways, Etihad Cargo, Lufthansa Cargo, Silk Way West Airlines, Qatar Cargo and United Cargo, alongside airports and service and logistics providers. The component has its own conference tradition — the Air Cargo China Conference addressed themes such as “Two-way traffic – Air cargo's big balancing act,” dealing with the directional imbalance of airfreight to and from China and East Asia — a structural feature of the market that the fair's location makes it uniquely placed to examine. Air cargo China's scale within the parent fair reflects China's position in global air freight: the country is simultaneously a manufacturing origin, a growing consumer destination and a transshipment hub, and Shanghai's airports are among its principal gateways. For airlines, forwarders and airport operators, the component is the region's principal annual meeting point in fair years.

The Pandemic Break and the 2024 Twentieth-Anniversary Return

The fair's modern history is defined by its six-year pandemic break and its full-scale return. After the 2018 edition, COVID-19 interrupted the biennial cycle, and transport logistic China did not meet again until 25–27 June 2024. The return was deliberately staged as a 20th-anniversary edition, marking two decades since the 2004 launch, and it matched the pre-pandemic benchmark: over 700 exhibitors across 50,000 square metres at SNIEC, exceeding the 2018 exhibitor count. International joint participations from Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the Czech Republic, together with ITCO's Tank Container Village, underlined the fair's undiminished international orientation, and air cargo China returned at its largest-ever size of around 10,000 square metres. Messe München's leadership described the industry response as an impressive comeback after the long break. Further editions followed in 2026, with the next scheduled for June 2028, restoring the biennial rhythm. The successful relaunch demonstrated that the fair's gateway function — connecting international logistics providers with the Chinese market and vice versa — survived the interruption intact, a resilience test that not all pandemic-suspended exhibitions passed at full size.

Exhibition Spectrum and Conference Programme

The fair covers the entire spectrum of logistics services: logistics services and logistics real estate, air freight, land transport, port and shipping logistics, fresh-produce logistics, logistics equipment, IT systems and telematics, and special vehicles. That breadth distinguishes it from modal fairs: an exhibitor list that runs from warehouse developers and tank-container operators to airlines and telematics providers mirrors how supply chains are actually bought — as integrated services rather than separate modes. The conference programme is the fair's second pillar, providing market information alongside the exhibition. Established elements include the Air Cargo China Conference and the “Logistics Excellence in China” conference organised by the German Logistics Association, which has treated topics such as lean logistics management and low-carbon practices in the supply chain. Messe München positions the conferences as the route to the latest market insights, and the themes have tracked the industry's agenda — Eurasian Corridor development, nearshoring, digitalisation and climate response. Co-location with LogiMAT China since 2019 extends the programme into intralogistics, so that transport, warehousing and internal material flow — the three segments of the logistics chain — are covered in one visit.

Visitors and International Participation

Transport logistic China's visitor and exhibitor geography defines its role. The 2018 edition's 667 exhibitors came from 58 countries, and about 25,000 visitors attended; the 2024 edition drew over 700 exhibitors with national joint participations from countries including Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the Czech Republic. Earlier editions show the same pattern: 41 exhibiting countries from all five continents in 2012, with growing Chinese participation as the domestic industry matured. The fair is explicitly a professional platform for exchange and networking — a business platform where international and national companies and visitors meet — rather than a public show. For international companies it offers structured access to Chinese partners, customers and the officials and associations that shape the market; for Chinese companies it offers the Munich brand's global network as an expansion channel. The presence of industry associations such as ITCO and the German Logistics Association, and of global carriers in air cargo China, gives mid-sized visitors contact with the sector's decision-makers that would be difficult to assemble independently. This gateway quality, sustained across twenty years, is the fair's core commercial asset.

Significance in Asia-Pacific Logistics

Transport logistic China's significance lies in its position as the Asia-Pacific edition of the world's leading logistics fair brand, anchored in the world's busiest port city. No other Asian logistics exhibition combines the Munich flagship's international network, a two-decade continuous history since 2004, a full-spectrum modal coverage and the largest air cargo event in Asia under one roof. Its documented arc — 22,000 square metres in 2004, 667 exhibitors from 58 countries in 2018, a six-year pandemic interruption, and a 700-exhibitor, 50,000-square-metre return in 2024 with editions following in 2026 and scheduled for 2028 — makes it a reliable index of the region's logistics industry health. Messe München's characterisation of the fair as a pacemaker for the Eurasian Corridor captures its strategic framing: as supply chains reorganise around nearshoring, digitalisation and climate pressures, the Shanghai fair is where the companies moving goods between Asia and the world take stock. For the WorldNM directory, it stands as a leading example of a European exhibition brand successfully localised — and, through its Chinese exhibitors' global ambitions, progressively bilateralised — in China.