NOL establishes service center in China

NOL establishes service center in China    Looking to reduce costs, Neptune Orient Lines said it will establish an administration and service center in Chongqing municipality in western China.
   The service center in Chongqing, located about 900 miles west of Shanghai, will provide key support processes for customs compliance, bill of lading production and invoicing for APL, the group’s container shipping business. It will support APL backroom operations across China, Japan, Korea and the Americas. During 2010 activities delivered from Shanghai will be moved to Chongqing, and NOL said the new facility is targeted to be fully operational by the end of 2010.
   Eng Aik Meng, president, APL said, “In recent years, as Shanghai has established itself as one of the world’s premier cities, the cost of doing business for such transactional activities has increased and is expected to rise further. Now is the right time to relocate our large-scale transactional operations to a location that provides a more effective cost base for the long term. This will help us to realize our business’ growth ambitions and to ensure that we have sustainable cost structures going forward.”
   Eng said: “Shanghai is a leading international maritime hub and the location of NOL’s North Asia regional headquarters. Our presence in Shanghai will continue to grow given the significant role it plays in the NOL Group’s commercial operations, both regionally and globally.”
   Migration of support services from Shanghai to Chongqing will result in the relocation of about 200 jobs.