CHINA'S nascent logistics market, coupled with the promise of huge infrastructure investment, has attracted the world's leading logistics developers.　
　
In a market that's expected to register an annual growth of 30 percent, ProLogis Inc, AMB Property Corp, Mapletree Logistics Trust Management Ltd and other early birds have swooped in to build warehouses in China's major logistics hubs.

Nasdaq-listed ProLogis, the world's biggest provider of distribution facilities and services, has so far overwhelmed its rivals with its presence in 18 Chinese cities since it entered the market two years ago. It has established a portfolio in China totaling 770,000 square meters in existing logistics property space, with 400,000 square meters under construction.

One of its major projects in Shanghai is the ProLogis Park Lingang, situated near the Yangshan Deep-Water Port complex, with the first part of a two-phase plan being built. The park is co-owned by ProLogis through a joint venture with a government entity on three square kilometers, with a total development cost of US$300 million.

The company has lately leased 19,000 square meters of warehouse space at the park to logistics giant DHL, along with a 5,000-square-meter container yard.

The park is expected to have 125,000 square meters in warehouse space and 395,000 square meters in container yards by the end of this year.

Singapore-based Mapletree Logistics Trust Management Ltd, which now owns 33,400 square meters in logistics facilities and has 150,000 in development, also holds ambitious investment plans to capitalize on rising rents.

The company said it plans to invest 1.2 billion yuan (US$154.4 million) in the next five years and increase its China property percentage to 25 percent by 2010, from the current five percent.