UPS is operating wholly-owned express operations in Japan as UPS Japan Co. Ltd. The carrier looks to extend its services and technology throughout the country as well as to deploy UPS-branded vehicles and drivers. “With a wholly-owned company in Japan, UPS can offer the type of global distribution solutions and premium services that help our worldwide customers synchronize their supply chain,” says David Abney, President of UPS International. The carrier expects to continue to expand throughout 2004.
UPS has just launched its Trade Direct Ocean service, the result of an alliance between UPS Japan and its partner UPS Suzuyo Freight Services. The service provides direct marine shipping with direct delivery to retail outlets and markets without having to pass through a distribution center. Although available in the U.S. for the past two years, this is a direct package delivery services from Japan to the U.S. When the new Central Japan International Airport (NGO) opens in February 2005, FedEx Express begin regular flights into the new facility with its 24-hour customs operations using its own aircraft. This will be the third Japanese airport in which FedEx operates. The other two are the New Tokyo International at Narita (NRO) and Kansai International (KIX).
NGO serves Japan’s Chubu region, which is the nation’s third largest economic area after Tokyo and Osaka. The area’s particular manufacturing focus is in automotives and information technology. FedEx presently handles regional import and export through KIX. With a forecast of growth in cargo traffic in the Chubu region, the carrier anticipates longer-range service improvements, including more frequent flights and later pick up times.
