Two of Japan’s leading air freight forwarders will enter the country’s international express marketin the latest move stepping up competition in Asia’s largest express and parcels market.
Nippon Express and Kintetsu Worldwide Express announced they will launch a jointinternational small package service from Japan to other Asian countries, and are in talks withairlines for air transportation. No launch date for the new service was announced, however.
The two companies, which are among the leading air freight forwarders in Japan, added theiralliance could in time be extended to services such as air cargo and sea freight.
Nippon Express has a significant domestic parcel delivery service within Japan and is thethird-largest player behind Yamato and Sagawa, according to government data for 2006. In 2006 itacquired a minority stake in the newly-created cargo airline of Japan Post and All Nippon Airways(AJV). Meanwhile, Kintetsu’s alliance with Sagawa Express for domestic deliveries ended in early2006 due to the latter’s own international expansion plans.
Japanese parcel companies are generally seeking to expand their small shares of the country’sinternational express market that is currently dominated by the likes of DHL Express and FedEx. Inlate 2006, for example, Yamato Transport split from UPS to launch its own international expressservice.
Meanwhile, Japan Post is pursuing its own international growth plans and is currently in thefinal stages of sealing a deal with China Post for bilateral express shipments between the twocountries.
