All Nippon Airways (ANA) plans to buy a 33.5 % stake in the Japanese express firm Overseas CourierService (OCS) thus becoming the company’s majority shareholder by the end of this month. The
acquisition is a further move in the airline’s strategy of developing an international expressbusiness.The share transfer will link ANA’s mainly Asian-based cargo network with the collection,customs clearance and ground delivery prowess of OCS, the Tokyo-based international parcel deliveryand forwarding company. The transaction will thus form a strategic base for the growth of ANA’sinternational parcel delivery service within the overall development of its cargo operations. Cargois the third of ANA’s core businesses, alongside domestic and international passenger operations.
In July 2007, ANA and OCS launched a joint door-to-door delivery service called BEAM toprovide high-speed, high-quality and reliable international deliveries, primarily between Japan andChina through ANA’s freighter network for air transportation and OCS’s collection and customsclearance.
This further development in the relationship of the two companies will help underpin ANA’sovernight Asia parcel delivery service from its new cargo hub in Okinawa, in southern Japan, whenit opens in October. Moreover, it will contribute to greater speed and reliability of operationsmoving ANA closer to being a regional player in the cargo integrator field.
In April 2008, ANA formed a new Japanese international express company All Express Corp.(Allex) together with Nippon Express and Kintetsu World targeting the international B2B expresssector on routes to and from Japan which are dominated by the global integrators DHL, FedEx andUPS. ANA is the major shareholder of the company with a 36.38% share.
ANA is Japan’s largest domestic carrier transporting almost 50 million passengers every yearto 50 destinations in Japan and 23 cities throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. Thecompany has been in the airline business for over 50 years, and combined with ANA Group companies,its activities extend across a host of complete travel and aviation-related services.
Founded in 1957, OCS serves nearly 200 countries, currently delivering 70 millioninternational business packages each year.
