Kerry Logistics expands with investment in CIS forwarder

Fast expanding Kerry Logistics has expanded its presence in the CIS region with an investment in Globalink Logistics DWC.
The Hong Kong-headquartered forwarder said the move would add nine countries to its network and help it capitalise on China’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative that aims to develop overland links between China and Europe.
The countries added to Kerry’s network are: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine. Details of the deal were not announced.
William Ma, Group Managing Director of Kerry Logistics, said: “We are very excited about this joint venture, which is part of our development strategy to tap into the immense opportunities from the Belt and Road initiative.
"The new partnership will allow the two groups to leverage each other’s competitive strengths and provide new options and cost-efficient multimodal solutions to our customers with greater flexibility and access to the strongest network in Asia.”
“While we will continue to develop an overland transportation network for road, rail and multimodal freight services from China to Central Asia and Europe, we will also build upon our expertise in project logistics within our global network to exploit new business opportunities.”
The move follows Kerry Logistics’ launch of its rail freight operations between China and Europe – it was the first firm to complete the first westbound charter freight from Yiwu, Eastern China to Madrid, Spain in August 2016; while the first UK-China eastbound freight train from London to Yiwu commenced its journey in April 2017.
The plans to expand in the CIS region have been known for some time.
Kerry has been growing rapidly over the last few years through a series of acquisitions and organic growth.
The logistics giant has this year already snapped up German forwarder Multi Logistics and taken a stake in Italy’s Tuvia.
Last year, the company purchased the freight forwarding businesses of Bofill & Arnan, a Spanish logistics and freight forwarding company with a focus on the China, Taiwan, and India trade lanes and also upped raised its stake in Indian forwarder Indev Logistics.