APL LOGISTICS ENTERS CHINA LOGISTICS VENTURE

APL LOGISTICS ENTERS CHINA LOGISTICS VENTURE

   APL Logistics, the logistics unit of the NOL Group, on Monday entered into a joint venture with Legend Group Holdings Ltd. To provide supply chain services for China's information technology business.

   The new venture, as a neutral business platform, will provide supply chain services to IT manufacturing and sourcing companies who with to establish and expand their capabilities in China.

   Flemming Jacobs, group president and chief executive officer of the NOL Group, said shippers want help with distribution of goods domestically in China as well as with overseas business. 'They want (APL Logistics) to deliver a seamless and managed supply chain service supported by full visibility. This joint venture will enable all this for the IT sector and for others,' he said.

   Li Qin, executive vice president of Legend Group Holdings, said there is no other company providing specialist logistics support to the IT sector in China.

   The scope of the business will include domestic and international ocean, land, inland waterways and air-freight forwarding and warehousing. It also extends to after-sale services such as 'reverse logistics,' which deals with returns.

   China is one of the world's fastest growing IT markets, with Morgan Stanley reporting that it represents one-third of sales in the Asia-Pacific region (including Japan). More than 30,000 units of PC hardware are shipped daily into China.

   Legend Group Holdings Ltd., the former New Technology Development Co. of Computing Institute of Chinese Academy of Science, was founded in 1984. It is now one of China's largest corporations, with four major subsidiaries: Legend Group Ltd., Digital China Holdings Ltd., Legend Capital Ltd., and Raycom Real Estate Development Co. Ltd.