Kerry Logistics has acquired of 50 per cent shares in Lanzhou Pacific Logistics Ltd. As the new shareholder and joint venture partner, Kerry Logistics will join hands with another shareholder of LPL, China Railway Container Transport Company Limited (CRCTC), in the management and operations of LPL. The investment marks another strategic step in advancing Kerry Logistics’ expansion into the rail freight and multimodal services under the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative.
Founded in 2002, LPL specialises in intermodal brokerage services across China and Central Asia including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Leveraging on CRCTC’s extensive rail network in China, LPL has a nationwide rail freight network covering more than 100 cities and provides container freight stations and domestic door-to-door logistics services. LPL’s clientele includes a number of Fortune 500 enterprises located in China, spanning the non-ferrous metals, chemicals, auto parts, agriculture, and building materials industries.
William Ma, group managing director of Kerry Logistics, said, “This acquisition will enable us to draw on the vast opportunities created by the Belt and Road Initiative. Not only will it further strengthen our rail freight capability throughout China and Central Asia, but also allow us to consolidate our expertise in project logistics within our global network.”
“It will additionally strengthen the rail and road network we have established in The Commonwealth of Independent States through our new joint venture. By constructing an integral multimodal freight chain that connects China, Central Asia, and Europe, we are committed to providing new options and cost-competitive intermodal solutions to our international customers,” Ma added.
In August 2012, China’s State Council approved to make Lanzhou the fifth state-level development zone in the country. Lanzhou has historically been used as the gateway to the West, due to its strategic location on the geographical and cultural cusps between Northwestern China and Central Asia.
The city has been chosen to be the major hub of the Silk Road Economic Belt, and a vast network of infrastructure, logistics and industrial zones, and sea ports is being planned that will stretch from East Asia to Western Europe, spanning 60 countries.
Kerry Logistics was the market pioneer to complete the first westbound charter freight train from Yiwu, Eastern China to Madrid, Spain in August 2016. It also set foot on the first eastbound freight train from London to Yiwu in April 2017.