(Yicai Global) Jan. 3 -- Logistics firm Tianjin Zhaohua Pioneer Co. will invest up to CNY150 million (USD23 million) to build 1,000 asphalt containers as it is optimistic about infrastructure construction in northwest China.

The group will commission a third party to construct the storage units, the company's controlling shareholder, Fujian Longzhou Transportation Co. [SHE:002682], said in a statement yesterday.

The containers will put Zhaohua Pioneer's bitumen transport capacity over 160,000 tons, helping it boost its profitability and market share, the statement said.

Zhaohua Pioneer has set up two subsidiaries in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Shaanxi province and intends to build an asphalt supply chain platform for the northwest asphalt market with Gansu province's capital of Lanzhou as a warehousing hub, the statement added.

The implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and other national strategies will create opportunities in transport infrastructure construction and increase asphalt demand in the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai as well as the autonomous regions of Ningxia Hui and Xinjiang, the statement said.