Transport curbs ripple out from Beijing

By Jason Subler

BEIJING (Reuters) - The transport restrictions that China is imposing as part of its drive to ensure clean air and security for the Olympics are rippling well beyond Beijing, ensnaring a widening circle of companies.

Private cars may take to the city's roads only every other day, depending on whether their license plates are odd or even. Most trucks can enter the city only at night, and only if they meet tough emissions standards.

On top of that, a range of goods deemed dangerous, including most liquids and even electronics, cannot be shipped by post, nationwide.

Such measures, not the separate moves to shut polluting factories in and around the capital, are why the Beijing plant of China's top biodiesel producer now sits idle among the corn fields on the sleepy southern outskirts of town.

"The government's recent strict enforcement of measures controlling the movement of vehicles and goods in and out of the Beijing area have rendered biodiesel production at our Beijing plant impractical for the time being," said Yu Jianqiu, chairman of Gushan Environmental Energy Ltd

The plant will be shut until September 20, making about 10,000 fewer tonnes of biodiesel as a result, it said.

Evidence is mounting that many other companies are getting caught in the crossfire as well.

Hyundai Motor Co's Beijing joint venture will face disruptions for two months because of the difficulty of getting auto parts shipped in, meaning around 50,000 fewer vehicles will be made there, South Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper reported last week.

Hyundai officials were not available for comment.

Beijing firms are not the only ones affected.

A survey of manufacturers published by brokerage CLSA last week showed that many factories around China were having to wait longer for raw materials due to the transport curbs, pushing up costs for some.

Zhejiang Adwin Furniture, based in Wenzhou, a hive of enterprise in eastern Zhejiang province, stopped shipping its furniture to Beijing and the northeast of the country as early as June, said executive Liu Yongcheng.

Heavy trucks arriving from the south are being turned back as far away as Dezhou, Shandong province, nearly 300 km (185 miles) from central Beijing, explained Yang Xinlei, a senior executive at Gtime Logistics Co Ltd in Beijing.

HEARTBURN, NOT HEART ATTACK

Such restrictions have presented an Olympic-sized challenge for major logistics firms.