Tag: Asia

UPS says intra-Asian trade offsets slower U.S. demand

Posted by | May 27, 2008 | |

United Parcel Service Inc said on Tuesday that its business within Asia was more than offsetting slower trade to the United States, but it added that Asian companies were cautious about the outlook.

UPS said that it expects business within Asia to drive growth in its global freight forwarding business this year to “quite a bit higher” than forecasts for 8 percent growth in the freight forwarding industry worldwide.

“We’re seeing very strong growth intra-Asia. It’s the China effect,” Derek Woodward, Asia-Pacific president of the world’s biggest package delivery firm, told a news briefing.

A UPS survey of small and medium-sized Asian companies, released on Tuesday, showed that more than half were optimistic about their prospects this year given strength in intra-regional trade and growth in business in Europe and the Middle East.

But they sounded a note of caution, saying U.S. economic woes were creating uncertainty, particularly for Japanese companies.

For the first time since the survey’s launch four years ago, more than half of Asian SMEs, or 51 percent, said they would freeze or cut staff this year. Some 62 percent felt less competitive than last year, partly due to rising labour costs.

The survey, conducted in December and January across 12 Asia-Pacific markets, polled more than 1,200 well-established SMEs.

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Philippines to ask UPS to retain some operations after moving hub

Posted by | May 22, 2008 | |

The Philippine government will ask United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) to retain some operations in the country after the U.S. logistics giant announced it was relocating to southern China, President Gloria Arroyo’s spokeswoman said Thursday.

UPS on Wednesday announced the planned transfer of its hub to a more centrally located USD 180-million facility to be built at Shenzen airport.

It said the move would place UPS closer to the center of the region’s economic activity and would improve customer service by reducing transit times across Asia.

The announcement represents a blow to the Philippines, which also faces a possible exit by Intel Corp., the world’s top chipmaker, from its second offshore assembly operations center in Asia.

Arroyo spokesman Lorelei Fajardo told reporters that the authorities at the Clark airport, where UPS had built its USD 300-million intra-Asia hub in 2002, were in talks with the U.S. company’s representatives to explore alternatives to its planned downsizing.

UPS said on Wednesday that it was “exploring placing alternative operations” at its Clark hub, located north of Manila, which it said would “continue to be a strategic location for UPS’s multi-hub network in Asia.”

Staff and flights would be reduced, company officials said, but they didn’t elaborate on the other alternatives.

Fajardo said the Clark International Airport Authority asked UPS to reorient the facility to provide systems patterned after its facilities in Louisville, Kentucky.

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DHL Japan fuel-cell car on display at ECO CAR WORLD 2008

Posted by | May 21, 2008 | |

DHL and pilot user of the Daimler AG (DAG) “F-cell” fuel-cell vehicle, was proud to contribute to the display of this environmentally-friendly vehicle by Mercedes-Benz Japan Co., Ltd. (MBJ) at the ECO CAR WORLD 2008 IN KOBE, which took place at Kobe Meriken Park from 17 – 18 May 2008.

DHL has been using the model since July 2006 as part of its ‘Green Logistics’ environmental initiative in Japan.

The “F-cell” vehicle will also be displayed at the ECO CAR WORLD 2008 IN YOKOHAMA, which will take place at Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse from 7 – 8 June 2008.

As part of DHL’s ‘Green Logistics’ initiative – launched in Japan in July 2006 – DHL Japan introduced the F-cell to its vehicle fleet.

The F-cell, the world’s first mass-produced fuel-cell car, is modeled on the Mercedes-Benz A Class and is powered by compressed hydrogen.

DHL has been testing the vehicle under actual working conditions by using it for the collection and delivery of documents in downtown Tokyo, especially in the bustling Otemachi district.

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UPS chooses Shenzhen for new Intra-Asia Air Hub

Posted by | May 21, 2008 | |

UPS is moving its intra-Asia air hub from the Philippines to Shenzhen in China’s thriving Pearl River Delta to improve customer service by reducing transit times across Asia.

UPS will base the new intra-Asia hub at the Shenzhen Airport in southern China, near Hong Kong. The repositioning will slash at least a day off shipment times-in-transit for Asian customers while offering a new level of service to the manufacturing region located just north of Shenzhen. The new cost-efficient hub will be operational in 2010 and represents an estimated investment of US$180 million.

Currently, the markets of China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan account for more than half of UPS’s total intra-Asia volume.
In 2007, UPS signed an agreement with the Shanghai Airport Group to establish a UPS International Air Hub at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. When it opens in November, the Shanghai hub will connect China to the UPS global air network, including U.S. and European destinations. It thus will play a substantially different role than the hub in Shenzhen, which will connect all major Asian points.

The Shenzhen hub, expected to total about 89,000 square meters in size (almost 1 million square feet), will include an express customs handling unit, sorting facilities, cargo handling and cargo build-up areas and ramp handling operations. It will be capable initially of processing up to 18,000 pieces per hour – compared to the existing 7,500 pieces per hour in the Philippines – but can be easily expanded to a capacity of 36,000 pieces per hour. It will employ about 400 people.

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Japan Post Bank to invest Y1 trln overseas

Posted by | May 20, 2008 | |

Japan Post Bank, the country’s largest bank, plans to invest at least 1.0 trillion yen (USD 9.59 billion) in overseas assets in the financial year to next March, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The report, citing no sources, said Japan Post Bank plans to invest in European and U.S. corporate bonds including securitised products through overseas asset management firms, tapping their expertise in investing in attractive, but high-risk corporate bonds.

The report said Japan Post Bank itself plans to invest in triple-A rated corporate bonds.

The report gave no details about allocations by currency or product type. It cited BlackRock as a possible asset mangement firm Japan Post Bank could cooperate with.

The report said the bank plans to gradually boost the amount it invests overseas, while seeking to limit market impacts.

Japan Post Bank is one of four business units created within state-owned Japan Post on Oct. 1 to begin a 10-year privatisation process.

At the end of September, the bank held some 181 trillion yen (USD 1,735 billion) in postal savings, of which nearly 90 percent was invested in domestic bonds, with only marginal shares in stocks and foreign assets. (USD 1=104.31 Yen)

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