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Tag: Yamato

  • DHL to build electric vans in Japan

    DHL to build electric vans in Japan

    Deutsche Post/ DHL’s EV building outlet StreetScooter is to sign a contract with Yamato, a major Japanese logistics company worth around 32 million euros. The two companies will develop a small electric van together and will bring the first 500 units into the greater Tokyo area by autumn.

    Progressed negotiations that have now been concluded. StreetScooter is responsible for the production of the electric van while Yamato will be responsible for the refrigerated transport box. However, the truck bed will be waist high so that workers can load and unload cargo without having to enter the refrigerator-freezer compartment. 100 charge points are planned as well, as is further expansion.

    So the 500 vehicles are by no means the end of the story. The cooperation could be further expanded in the future as Yamato plans to aggressively convert its fleet of around 40,000 vehicles to electric drives. According to the Japanese business paper, Yamato would be the first large logistics company in Japan to rely on electric drives on a large scale.

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  • Yamato teams up with JD.com to send goods across China

    Yamato teams up with JD.com to send goods across China

    Yamato Holdings will partner with Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com to ship products from Japanese retailers throughout China starting in 2018, likely boosting Japanese online sales there.

    JD.com is China’s second-largest internet retailer, after Alibaba Group Holding, and operates a nationwide delivery network.

    Yamato will handle international shipping from Japan to China and use JD.com’s network for home delivery under an agreement concluded Monday. Responsibility for clearing customs will be decided later.

    The alliance will enable Chinese consumers buying items on Japanese websites to have purchases delivered to where they live. With cosmetics and food products from Japan popular in China, sales of Japanese companies are growing as they offer goods on internet marketplaces there. Yamato’s service will offer a way into China for small and midsize Japanese business that have yet to enter the country’s online retail market.

    JD.com will receive shipping service support from Yamato as well. The parcel courier is already consulting JD.com on its cold-chain network and other delivery methods to maintain product quality in transit. This will help JD.com better handle fresh Japanese foods and other perishables, expanding its online retail business.

    China-bound online sales from Japan grew some 30% in 2016 to 1.03 trillion yen ($9.08 billion), according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The market is estimated to nearly double to 1.9 trillion yen in 2020.

    New strategy

    The profitability of home delivery services in Japan has been squeezed amid a personnel shortage that has pushed up labor costs. Yamato sees international delivery, which carries high rates, as a growth field.

    Yamato had been able to offer home deliveries from Japan to only those areas where it has a transport network, such as Shanghai and Hong Kong in China. But it is abandoning this model and partnering with other companies to accelerate expansion abroad. Yamato launched a home delivery service in Thailand with Siam Cement in January.

    But the competition is intense. Japan Post already has Japan-China transport infrastructure and holds a large share of such shipments. It partnered with China’s STO Express to launch a low-cost delivery service in October. Nippon Express is also cooperating with Alibaba in China-bound shipping, handling international transport of goods and customs.