APL opens logistics center in Shenzhen

APL opens logistics center in Shenzhen    APL Logistics, has opened a large logistics and consolidation center in the Shenzhen special economic zone, located in South China, near Hong Kong.
   The 298,000-square-foot centre, also located near the port of Yantian, will provide onsite customs clearance, cross-docking, product assembly and barcode scanning. It will be equipped with APL Logistics’ “See Change” IT system for shipment visibility and information management.
   APL said that the logistics facility will meet the need of shippers for point-of-origin inventory management in South China.
   “By providing consolidation, quality checking, storage, information management and inventory visibility in one centre at origin, our customers have more control over the flow of their goods,” said David Lim, president and chief executive officer of Neptune Orient Lines, the parent company of APL Logistics. “They have the ability, for example, to call on or hold stock depending on market needs,” he added.
   APL added that customers using the South China logistics facility will be able to ship “free on board” (FOB) China rather than FOB Hong Kong. It said that this is important given the expected growth of South China-origin textile exports when quotas are lifted next year as part of China’s membership of the World Trade Organisation.
   APL Logistics has also recently opened a large logistics center in Shanghai.