Freight forwarder Yusen Logistics continues to strengthen its Southeast Asia clout with the launch of a cross-border trucking service that connects five countries in the region.
The new South East Asia Link (SEAL) is a road network which links Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, “offering a road solution which is more economical than airfreight forwarding and quicker than ocean freight forwarding,” said the company.
Full truck load (FTL) and less than truck load (LTL) options are offered. The service operates five times a week between Singapore and Malaysia, and runs two to three times a week connecting Malaysia with Thailand via Bangkok and Vietnam via Hanoi.
The land transport service cuts both cost and lead times compared with other logistics modes. In the Bangkok-Hanoi corridor, for example, trucking is about half the cost of airfreight forwarding, while being 10 days quicker than ocean freight movement, the company claimed.
It also announced the establishment of local subsidiaries in Myanmar and Vietnam as part of its expansion drive into the thriving Southeast Asian bloc.
Yusen Logistics (Myanmar) began operations on April 1, 2014 and is headquartered in Yangon, from where it will expand total logistics services including air and ocean freight forwarding, domestic transport, and customs clearance services.
The local subsidiary was opened following national political and economic reforms that have allowed direct foreign investments, and in anticipation of an economic boom in the wake of increasing manufacturing activity in the nation.
Yusen Logistics (Vietnam) was also launched on April 1, a merger of Yusen Logistics Solutions (Vietnam) Co. (YL-SV) and Yusen Logistics International (Vietnam) Co. (YL-IV).
The merger comes after the country relaxed regulations on foreign capital investments, allowing YL-SV, which specialized in ocean freight and logistics, and YL-IV, which specialized in airfreight, to integrate operations.
Based in Hanoi, the Vietnam branch has 55,000 square meters of warehouse facilities across 23 sites in four cities providing air and ocean freight forwarding, logistics, and Southeast Asia cross-border truck transportation.
