Cargo Business Newswire

Monday, August 18, 2014

UPS and FedX receive licenses to extend reach in China

UPS and FedEx Corp have received licenses to independently open up their express package services in Beijing and other Chinese cities without a joint venture partner, after years of waiting.

A 2009 postal law restricted foreign firms to from delivering packages domestically—they could only deliver those from abroad.

The licenses give the package delivery giants access to a huge market, second only to the U.S. Due to online commerce, the Chinese market is growing 60 percent yearly and could be $46 billion by 2015, according to consultancy Deloitte.

"We now have 33 licenses," said Laura Lane, UPS president of global public affairs, to Reuters. "The government just approved (the licenses) in May," Lane said, talking about UPS's latest 14 licenses for cities that include Beijing, Wuhan and Hefei.

"We're really looking at developing those capabilities in those 33 cities, expanding our investment," Lane said. "But we haven't developed a concrete plan yet in terms of where we want to go beyond those 33 cities."

FedEx received 21 licenses in May, returning its total to 58, the same number it held before the 2009 law, a spokesman told Reuters.

UPS and FedEx had to reapply for licenses to offer domestic B2C services once the law changed. In 2012, the two companies were given their first five and eight licenses respectively.

Neither company has disclosed the size of their businesses in China, but both refer to the country as their fastest growing market.

For more of the Reuters story: www.reuters.com

More Newswire stories

DP World at Port Metro Vancouver stops accepting U.S.-bound rail cargo

China’s first "fully-automated" terminal opens at Xiamen

South African bank loses $80M in Qingdao port loan scandal

Japan freezes assets of N. Korean ship operator

Today's Cargo News Archives