Steve Hawks, president of Hawks Logistics, Inc., has returned from addressing and meeting with Chinese government and transportation leaders at high-level Chinese-American transportation conferences in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, China.

'The expanding volume of transported goods between the United States and China has encouraged both countries to push for more transportation training and education in international regulations in order to safely and efficiently trade with each other,' says Hawks, whose company is based in Edmond, Oklahoma.

In cooperation with the American Society of Transportation and Logistics (AST&L) and their Beijing office, Hawks at the 2007 Sino-American Logistics Conference on the necessary international regulations and education needed for better dangerous goods shipping between the US and China.

'I am very interested in stressing the necessity for transport agreements between China and the US so that the established international shipping rules can be used for every shipment,' says Hawks. 'This means that transportation professionals need to be trained and certified in the established rules so that each shipment can be moved with uniform markings, packaging and shipping. This will make commerce more efficient and successful.'

Hawks, an AST&L Board Member, also traveled to the third largest Chinese city of Tianjin to speak at the 2007 Tianjin Economic Trade Association Conference where the future opportunities of this rapidly growing port were explored by US and Chinese transportation leaders.

While in Tianjin, Hawks was among the first US transportation leaders to tour the new Tianjin International Trade and Shipping Service Center, the largest and most competitive shipping and logistics center in the north of China. This facility will provide, under one roof, 'one stop' services such as inspection, customs, finances, freight-forwarding, safety administration and other necessary electronic aspects needed to transport goods internationally. This center is a part of the Tianjin Free Trade Zone which includes an expanded airport and ocean port.

These important events were part of a two-week visit that Hawks and AST&L representatives made with Chinese government, industry and transportation leaders to discuss the urgent needs to meet the future of shipping between the United States and China.

'As goods production and the transporting of those goods expand daily in this global market, the American Society of Transportation and Logistics (AST&L) is working to encourage more cooperation and provide more education between China and the United States so that products and dangerous goods can be safely and efficiently moved,' says Hawks.