Magazines Archives - 2009 April

NYK to seek LCL and NVOCC business opportunities with new Singapore facility
Story 7 - Logistics

JAPANESE logistic company NYK Logistics (Asia) has taken advantage of the economic slowdown to open a new logistic and warehousing facility in Keppel Distripark in Singapore last month, in line with its plans to develop business opportunities in the region’s loose container load (LCL) and non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC) market sector.

“We discovered that due to cost increases, more freight was moving towards LCL ... so we decided to move in,” said William Wong, general manager for sales and business development at NYK.

He revealed that the company invested between S$200,000 (US$131,000) and S$300,000 in the 55,000sqf facility, reportedly the largest lot taken in the park, and has taken up a three-year lease with the Port of Singapore Authority.

According to the group, the centre will provide “cross-docking operations, including loading and unloading of cargo, sorting of cargo”, as well as “short-term storage for container shipping companies”.

Said Tay Lim Heng, Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) of Singapore’s chief executive: “We … believe that Singapore’s connectivity and infrastructure will facilitate the company’s growth in the region and beyond.”

Apart from being within the vicinity of the port, allowing for transhipments to be routed much quicker and at a lesser cost to exporters, the new facility has the added advantage of being within the free trade zone, hence shippers will not be charged the Goods and Services Tax.

NYK will also be able to build up its Double Wing Express global NVOCC service, launched last September. Despite Singapore only having a small role in this business, Wong stated that growth in volumes for this unit is set between 2% and 5% this year.

Takuji Nakai, chairman of NYK South Asia, explained: “NYK Logistics Group has launched a global NVOCC service in a bid to push back its supplychain operation towards origin, providing a real end-to-end solution … Branded as DWE, or Double Wing Express, and with our headquarters located in Hong Kong, our NVOCC operation plans to climb into the one million TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) per annum league by 2012.”

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