Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

newsworthy

Chinese government OKs joint venture between UPS, SF Express

Decision allows SF Express to expand in U.S. via UPS' network.

Chinese government authorities have approved a proposed joint venture between UPS Inc. and SF Holding Co. Ltd., the parent of one of China's largest package delivery operators, UPS and SF Holding said today.

The government's action allows UPS to pick up parcels in China on behalf of SF Express Co. Ltd., SF Holding's parcel unit, and move them to the U.S. through the UPS network.


The decision by China's Ministry of Commerce will pave the way for the companies to collaborate on other trade lanes, the companies said. At this point, nothing firm has been announced. The proposed joint venture was disclosed in May.

SF Express, touted as China's leading express delivery provider, serves 13,000 points nationwide with 15,000 trucks and 36 freighter aircraft. However, it has a very small presence in the U.S., and uses other companies, including UPS, to deliver from China. Atlanta-based UPS, which began operations in China in 1988, operates in 330 cities with 872 package cars and tractor-trailers, and 200 weekly flights linking the two countries. It does not operate its own aircraft within China, and under the venture will rely on the SF Express fleet to broaden its coverage of time-sensitive goods.

The companies began collaborating two years ago, when UPS' global express service was made available at SF Holding's Heike retail stores in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China. At the same time, the companies rolled out a product called "Global Reach Plus," which will be targeted at businesses with less-urgent delivery requirements. The service will deliver packages in five to seven business days and provide end-to-end visibility through the companies' combined IT networks, the SF Holding and UPS said.

The joint venture is another step in the growth trajectory of cross-border e-commerce, where orders are delivered with the so-called landed cost—the cost of all aspects of the international transaction, such as transport, warehousing, and customs clearance—visible to the customer.

Global parcel volumes rose to 65 billion in 2016, from 44 billion in 2014, according to an index prepared by Pitney Bowes Inc., a global technology company based in Stamford, Conn. Global parcel traffic will increase between 17 and 28 percent a year between 2017 and 2021, Pitney Bowes forecast.

The Latest

More Stories

Companies double down on resilience as trade complexities rise

Companies double down on resilience as trade complexities rise

Most retail, wholesale, and manufacturing businesses are focused on fundamentally restructuring their supply chains to stay ahead of economic uncertainty. That’s according to results of the second annual State of Supply Chain report from supply chain solutions platform provider Relex Solutions, released Tuesday.

Relex surveyed nearly 600 professionals from retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and wholesale businesses across seven countries and found that 60% said they are overhauling their supply chains due to tariff uncertainty and market volatility.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

Raising the bar on inventory visibility

Raising the bar on inventory visibility

Ask 10 warehousing experts about the optimal level of inventory visibility, and you'll get a dozen different responses.

Sure, most would agree on the importance of accurate inventory counts—knowing exactly how many items are in every carton, crate, and pallet stored in the facility. But depending on what type of goods the warehouse handles, opinions will vary widely on how much accuracy is good enough and what's the best technique for counting.

Keep ReadingShow less

15 candles

When a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 2010, a fledgling humanitarian group knew its day had come—after months of planning, it would finally be able to take its model live and see how well it worked. Formed a year earlier to support humanitarian relief efforts, that group, Airlink, had established a network of airline partners it could call on to provide free or discounted airlift in times of crisis. As it turned out, the model held up in testing. In the weeks following the earthquake, Airlink successfully coordinated the movement of more than 2,000 doctors and nurses and more than 40 shipments of aid totaling more than 500,000 pounds into the disaster zone.

Fifteen years later, the group is still carrying out that mission—but on a much larger scale. Airlink's network today includes over 200 aid organizations and over 50 commercial and charter airlines. Since its inception, the group has flown 13,500 relief workers and transported 18 million pounds of humanitarian cargo, directly helping 60 million people impacted by natural and man-made disasters.

Keep ReadingShow less

How risky is your route?

When planning routes for their delivery trucks, fleet managers—or more likely, their route planning software systems—consider factors like mileage, road height and weight restrictions, traffic conditions, and weather. They can now add another variable to the mix, thanks to a new tool that calculates the chances that a load might be stolen along the way.

Developed by New Jersey-based risk assessment firm Verisk Analytics, CargoNet RouteScore API generates a cargo theft "risk score" that provides a relative measure of probability that crime and loss will occur along any given route in the U.S. and Canada. Using a proprietary algorithm, the tool rates routes on a scale from 1 to 100—with 1 representing the lowest likelihood of theft—based on risk factors such as cargo type, value, length of haul, origin, destination, day of the week, and the theft history of specific truck stops.

Keep ReadingShow less

The rise of designer diesel

Drivers typically choose a specific blend of gasoline based on their car's engine, picking high-octane fuel for a sports car and regular gas for the family sedan. Now a company has launched a similar range of products for diesel fuel, saying the offerings are calibrated for vehicles like commercial trucks.

That company, Nevada-based Advanced Refining Concepts LLC (ARC), will launch two new products, GDiesel Lightning and GDiesel Thunder, by mid-year, the company said in January. According to the firm, GDiesel Lightning is a lighter, faster-igniting diesel fuel than the classic mix and is designed specifically for urban start-stop operations—think delivery vehicles, light trucks, city buses, and passenger vehicles. GDiesel Thunder is a heavier, higher energy-content fuel made for steadier and more continuous engine operating modes, making it suitable for long-haul trucking or rail and marine applications.

Keep ReadingShow less