Archive for the 'Logistics' Category

Six B747-400ERF (which stands for Extended Range Freighter) have been delivered to Jade Cargo at its Shenzhen Baoan International Airport base.

With the delivery of the six new freighters, the Chinese company plans to intensify its existing air routes in Europe as well as expand its international market.

Jade Cargo International is a partnership venture between Shenzhen Airlines (holding 51% share) Lufthansa Cargo(25%) share, and the totally unpronouncable Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft which has 24% of the venture and we will have to think of a better acronym than DIE.

This is the first cargo airline joint venture in China between a local company and foreign firms.
Source: China Civil Aviation Report

Birmingham-based software developer and global supply chain consultant Barloworld Optimus is aiming to capitalise on escalating supply chain awareness in China.

Barloworld said China’s growth as a manufacturing superpower was fuelling demand for software tools. It said the need to curb emissions ahead of the Olympics was also aiding business with new software licences up three times on last year and five times on 2006.

Barloworld, which supplies the Optimiza and CAST tools, has brought forward plans to open up a Shanghai office and has expanded Asian operations to include permanent Beijing-based consulting resources.

Global business development director Fraser Ironside said following impressive gains, the company — which supplies McDonalds. Nokia, BAT and Goodyear — was working on links with Chinese clients and targeting third party logistics companies.

The chief drivers behind the company’s ambitious China expansion include national logistics costs at 20% of GDP — compared to between eight and 10% in the US and Europe Software developer looks east — and the relaxation of regulations allowing foreign third party logistics firms to establish wholly-owned operations in China.

With more than 350 licences worldwide and more than 1,300 trained users, the tool is used widely by third party logistics, manufacturing, consulting and retail companies.

The site has some splendid photographs of people who are not using its software and wish they were. Our illustration is but one of them.
Source: Birmingham Post

Grand Power Logistics saw revenue increase by 68.4% to $99.6 million compared to the same period in 2006. Gross profit for the year increased by 72% to $6.9 million.

Costs related to the Company’s aggressive expansion, particularly in China resulted in a net loss of $139,623 but to that should be added adjustments to employee’s compensation so that direction was solidly in the right direction.

Ricky Chiu, President and CEO of Grand Power, said, ‘Successfully implementing our expansion plans did challenge our margins during the year, but we believe our efforts will be rewarded with continued strong revenue growth and increased profits as we benefit from economies of scale and our entry in higher margin segments of the logistics value chain.’

Cargo shipments showed the strongest growth in the European markets, growing by 162% to 7,973 tonnes in 2007. Strong gains were also reported in the US markets with 9,468 tonnes shipped, an increase of 43.9%.
Grand Power’s expansion into China in 2007 also resulted in significant growth as air cargo increased by 926% to 4,388 tonnes.

To help facilitate further expansion and grow market share, Grand Power has established Shanghai as the China headquarters.
Source: MarketWire

When Pang Yuliang from Zhengzhou in Henan province made a multimillion euro bid to buy an airport in Schwerin, Germany, he had the interest of millions of fellow beer fanciers in mind.

‘Every beer drinker in China knows Germans make great beer,’ the 40-something entrepreneur reportedly said. In this has has the full, nay enthusiastic support of this writer.

He added, ‘But how many people in China have tasted really fresh German beer?’ The answer is: ‘They will, after I’m done with building up the airport as planned.’

As Pang, founder and chairman of LinkGlobal Logistics, envisaged it, Parchim International Airport will be an important gateway to the growing trade between China and Germany. The flights will carry more than beer.

His grand plan for Parchim included building a 1 million sq m free trade zone for Chinese enterprises angling for greater access to the European market by establishing manufacturing facilities there.

Pang said the project will be carried out in cooperation with Nanjing Hi-tech Development Zone, which houses more than 1,700 enterprises.

LinkGlobal’s spokesman said flying goods directly from Urumqi to Parchim would be shorter and would cost significantly lower than the usual routes with stopovers in Dubai and elsewhere in the Emirates. And the beer will be fresher.
Source: English People’s Daily Online

This is a worry. There are already signs that high Chinese logistics costs are expected to rise further and, if they do, there is little doubt that they will affect Chinese Export effectiveness.

85% of delegates at this year’s Automotive Logistics China conference, representing vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and logistics providers, say they expect the real price of logistics in the region to rise over the next five years.

Chinese logistics costs are already high at 18.5% of GDP, nearly double that of more developed markets.

Robert Strain of GM Asia-Pacific told delegates that vehicle manufacturers and logistics suppliers would have to cooperate closely to limit price increases to help maintain China’s competitiveness, in the face of an appreciating currency and rising labour and fuel costs.

The survey revealed that China’s biggest vehicle export market is expected to be Russia, and new transport routes are emerging between the two countries.
Source: Just Auto

Chinese logistics provider Tianjin Binhai Teda Logistics is to got listed on the growth enterprise board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in the next few days.

It plans to issue 88.6 million shares or 27.56% of its enlarged capital stock for US22 cents to 27 cents apiece in its IPO.

All the shares will be sold to investors through placement. Which seems to mean individual investors do not get a look-in until later. And it will issue an additional 13.29 million shares if necessary.

Chairman Zhangjian disclosed that Tianjin Port Development Holdings had subscribed 20 million shares in his company which gives you about a quarter of the stock sold before you start.

The money will pay the debt it owes to banks and fund its construction of cargo holds. Also, the company plans to enlarge its facilities for the rolled steel purchase business in Northeast China.

Headquartered in the Northern Chinese city of Tianjin, Tianjin Binhai Logistics has set up logistics centers in key coastal cities like Dalian, Shanghai and Wuxi and serves more than 600 clients.
Source: Trading Markets

Ping An Insurance, China’s second biggest insurer, will pay $2.3 billion for a 14% stake in the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway.

Ping An has raised billions of dollars recently to pay for such acquisitions.

In remarks posted on the central government’s Web site, Cai Qinghua, who is also vice minister of the Railway Ministry, said the National Council for the Social Security Fund would also buy a stake in the railway, investing RMB10 billion ($1.4 billion) for an 8.7% interest.

Construction of the railway has already begun in Beijing. This is one of these solid investments which China throws up where the scale of investment is so large that only the very, very big players and the government can afford to ante up.

We are looking at $2.7 billion for 24.7%. Using back-of-envelope economics that has to be about $10.4 billion all up and so a return of something closer to a billion dollars a year, rather than half a billion is expected.

That is very serious investment but you can see that a high speed run between Bejing and Shanghai is a natural.

Instead of the misery and expense and time of hacking it to the airport you get on the train ten minutes before it is due to leave, work on your laptop and before you know it you are at the center of your destination city. Which means it is as near as guaranteed investment as exists.
Source: Businessweek

TSK Line has launched a new joint India-China service with Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd (seen here), Thailand-based Regional Container Lines (RCL) and South Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM).

Five ships of around 2,700 TEUs each will be traveling the route New joint India-China service by the end of month — two from TSK and one each from the other partners.

The port rotation is Xingang, Qingdao, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Port Kelang, Mumbai-Nhava Sheva and Pipavav.

At the same time RCL, Taiwan’s Wan Hai Lines and feeder line Sea Consortium are to upgrade their South Korea-China-Straits-India service by replacing five ships of 1,790 TEUs with 2,500 TEU vessels but, at the same time, dropping South Korea from the route.
Source: CargoNews Asia

This is an unabashed plug. Nothing wrong with that. The third Transport Logistic China (the organizers want it all in trendy lower case which looks damn silly) , taking place in Shanghai from 17 to 19 June 2008, will be 50% bigger than the last event in 2006. (Mark you, by not saying how big the one in 2006 was this can mean anything.

In fact, the International Exhibition for Logistics, Telematics and Transportation will be taking up 15,000 square meters of space at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Center which is quite a lot of space. I make it about sixty tennis courts in size but maths was never my strong point.

Since its premiere in 2004 transport logistic China has been constantly expanding. In 2006 it occupied one exhibition hall (10,000 square meters), now it takes up one and a half halls at the SNIEC.

This growth is going hand in hand with a broadening of the international scope of the trade fair — so far 350 exhibitors from 41 countries have registered to take part. By comparison, at the previous event in 2006 there was a total of 302 exhibitors from 33 countries.

This means not only more participating countries and more space in 2008, but also a 16% increase in exhibitor numbers.

Following the successful premiere of the German Pavilion in 2006, there will once again be a joint German participation in 2008, this time covering over 500 square meters. Plus the Czech Republic, the Italian regions of Friaul and Veneto, The Netherlands and Belgium, Spain and Russia . And, also for the first time, the Container Owners Association (COA) and the International Tank Container Organization (ITCO) are teaming up to organise a joint stand of exhibitors – this is where container owners, depot managers, maintenance and security firms and international service suppliers will be presenting their innovations for safer and more cost-effective container operations.

Air Cargo China will be there at what will be the largest international showcase for the air cargo business in Asia. 50 of the world´s leading airlines and airports will take up 3,000 square metres of space. Having attended many of these showes make sure you wear comfortable shoes and a rucksack to carry all the printed brochures that will be thrust in your hand.
Source: Open PR

The figures are simple and encouraging:

2007 revenues increased 51.8% to $85.9 million.
2007 net income increased 41.7% to $13.5 million.

Beijing Logistic, one of China’s largest third-party logistics providers, specializing in books and magazines, agricultural products and Chinese traditional medicine storage and shipping (a neat mix), announced operating results for year-end 2007 which showed it is doing very nicely.

The major contribution of this growth was the expansion of the books logistics business.

In 2007, revenues from books and magazines logistics management increased 66.8% from 2006, to approximately $51.9 million. No analyst would have forecast this. No book publisher would have expected it.

Ms. Zhang Yu, Chief Executive Officer of Beijing Logistic, said, ‘The growth was due to our continued focus on expanding warehouse service offerings as a third party logistics trustee company to the publishing Industry. We built new distribution centers in large cities to organize and manage inventory for many publishers, and as a result, we earned profit not just from book and magazine shipping, but also from the management service in the warehouse. We diversified services, and improved efficiency in order to satisfy the requirement of different clients, and the client base in the publishing business segment has increased.’

Ms. Zhang Yu said, ‘2007 was a notable year for Beijing Logistic, we were striving to become the largest book logistics company in China, the highest ranked third-party logistics company, and the most renowned logistics company.’

We do not know if the book illustrated is in the Beijing Logistic warehouse. It damn well should be.
Source: BusinessWire