Yellow Roadway invests in Chinese forwarder

Yellow Roadway invests in Chinese forwarder    Yellow Roadway Corp. said it has formed a joint venture with a Chinese investment house to provide freight transportation services to importers and exporters operating in China.
   Overland Park, Kan.-based Yellow Roadway said it has bought a 50 percent stake in JHJ International Transportation Co., the freight forwarding subsidiary of Jin Jiang International Industrial Investment Co. Ltd. JHJ is the second-largest air freight forwarder in China, Yellow Roadway said in a statement. The company also offers ocean forwarding and logistics services. It has 22 locations, including five customs warehouses near the Shanghai airport. The company last year had revenue of $330 million.
   The move highlights Yellow Roadway’s desire to expand from a domestic trucking organization to a provider of integrated international logistics services. Yellow Roadway would become the first U.S.-based trucking company to operate in China.
   The Financial Times in May first reported that Yellow Roadway was negotiating with Chinese trucking companies to acquire or form a partnership. The paper said Yellow Roadway sought to build a trucking network in the fragmented Chinese market, but would probably start slowly by focusing on the Shanghai region.
   Earlier this year, Yellow Roadway’s logistics subsidiary Meridian IQ acquired Shanghai-based GPS Logistics Group.
   Under the deal, Yellow Roadway will buy out Barkley Transportation Ltd. and Shanghai HaiGang Trading Co., another investor and 15 percent of Jin Jiang’s investment in JHJ for $45 million.
   Yellow Roadway said it expected the deal to close in early fall after approval by Chinese regulators.