Yusen Logistics has secured a contract with Portuguese parts supplier Inapal Plasticos to provide linefeed preparation services for Jaguar Convertible F Type production at the Castle Bromwich facility in the UK.
Inapal Plásticos supplies Jaguar Land Rover with spoilers and boot lids on the Convertible F Type and, according to Yusen, was looking for a tailored sub-assembly and sequence picking service, with delivery into the Jaguar plant on a just-in-time basis.
The operation is based at Yusen Logistics’ Tamworth automotive centre, just 13 miles from the Castle Bromwich facility. The 7,500m2 site serves automotive manufacturers with assembly facilities in the Midlands and is supported by Yusen Logistics’ forwarding control tower operations, with volumes arriving by air, sea and road. Inapal ships the components to Tamworth from its facility in Palmela and when the parts are assembled and put in sequence Yusen’s nominated carrier takes them to the Castle Bromwich facility.
Yusen provides IT visibility, stock traceability and alert messaging in real time for the sequence picking and dispatch operation for Inapal, as well as quality assurance.
Commenting on the new contract, Yusen Logistics UK’s business unit director, John Pursey, said the business was strategically important demonstrated it capabilities in sequencing supply to a major OEM.
“This piece of business is in line with our specialist service and sector strategy to develop and promote our Tamworth site as a central sequencing centre for tier suppliers supporting multiple OEMs,” added Pursey.
BLG organises China logistics services under one subsidiary
Germany’s BLG Logistics is organising its logistics services in China under a dedicated subsidiary in anticipation of an increase in exports from the country to European markets in the near future. “We are currently in the process of pooling our logistics services in China under the brand BLG China," said Detthold Aden, CEO of BLG Logistics Group at press conference in Beijing last week. "With our logistics network we act as a springboard to the Europe market."
According to BLG, Germany is China's most important trading partner in the European Union and China is, in turn, Germany's most important trading partner in Asia.
"In the last 10 years China has displayed an impressive economic development to the world,” said Aden. “In 2011 China rose to become the world export champion and has relegated Germany to second place. However, China's imports are also rising continuously. For instance, China is currently the strongest market for German vehicles, which are exported via our Auto Terminal in Bremerhaven."
China numbers among the most important partners of the ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven, especially in terms of containers and vehicles. More than a 100 Chinese companies have branches in Bremen according to BLG and China’s major ports are connected to the Bremen ports via regular services.
BLG already operates a joint venture in the port of Tianjin in China with Cinko SCM. Called BLG Cinko Autotec, the company cleans, retrofits and prepares vehicles for shipping. However, it is also planning to provide services for import vehicles for the Chinese market.
According to Aden, the addition of BLG China, which will concentrate all of its logistics services under one roof, will further expand the company’s performance in China
Chinese makes have been handled in Bremerhaven since 2007.
BMW to build in Brazil
Following the recent announcement that the Brazilian government has launched a new automotive plan to stimulate growth and production in the country (Inovar Auto), BMW has announced plans to build a new plant in the country with production capacity aimed at 30,000 vehicles to begin in 2014, subject to final approval by the government.
“We welcome the new framework for investments in Brazil, based on the recently adopted “Inovar Auto” legislation,” said Ian Robertson, BMW’s board member for Sales and Marketing. “We have submitted an investment proposal for our planned new plant to the Brazilian Government,” he confirmed at a meeting with Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff in the capital, Brasilia held in October.
BMW said that investments over the next few years will total more than €200m and that more than 1,000 new jobs will be created at the new production site, with additional jobs generated within the supplier network. Negotiations with the State Government of Santa Catarina are reported to be underway and the planned location for the plant is the Joinville region in the south of the country.
“Brazil is a market with tremendous potential for the future for the BMW Group,” said Robertson. “For that reason, we are strengthening our long-term commitment to this country.”
However, there remain serious logistics and supply chain challenges in Brazil and other carmakers have expressed the fear that the worst is yet to come and that the country could see a collapse of strained supply chains that have only been spared so far by the drop off in GDP growth.
The BMW Group has had a local sales company in Brazil since 1995. A total of 15,214 vehicles were sold in Brazil in 2011. This represents a growth rate of almost 54%. BMW Motorrad also increased its sales by 55% in 2011 to reach a total of 5,442 motorcycles.
DHL targets developments in India
DHL Supply Chain is reported to be investing €100m ($130m) in India over the next two years to set up eight new warehouses and a number of transport facilities that will be focused toward five industry sectors including automotive as well as consumer, retail, healthcare and technology.
The company already operates a large warehousing complex in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which caters for the automotive, energy, healthcare and retail sectors.
The eight new facilities will be located in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Delhi, Bangalore, Nagpur, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, and will add an additional 465,000m2 of warehousing space to its existing 370,000m2.
DHL offers express delivery, global forwarding and supply chain services in India, and is in the process of expanding services. It has also been expanding its Transport branch network, having recently opened 18 branches which provide dedicated full truck load services (FTL) across the country.
The company also plans to double its workforce in the country from 5,000 to 10,000 employees by 2015.
P&O forms alliance with Horizon
P&O Ferrymasters and Horizon International Cargo have formed a strategic alliance to link their respective pan-European and inter-continental capabilities.
P&O Ferrymasters is a leading European logistics service providers handling short sea and road freight operations from 25 offices in 12 countries, while Horizon is one of the UK’s leading independent freight forwarders.
“We each wanted to extend our market reach to maximise opportunities both for ourselves and our clients,” said P&O Ferrymasters commercial director Phillip Jones. “By partnering our strengths, we can offer a one-stop shop global service to our respective customers. The relationship is in direct response to customers increasingly looking to a single service provider to offer a full spectrum of integrated supply chain and logistics services, both across Europe and worldwide.”
P&O Ferrymasters has established services for the automotive industry as well as steel, building products, chemicals, paper & packaging, and consumer goods industries. Horizon specialises in high-tech cargo, such as machinery equipment, as well as consumer electronics and pharmaceuticals.
“The relationship substantially strengthens our service portfolio within Europe,” said Horizon managing director Mark Talbot. “Likewise it gives P&O Ferrymasters a dedicated platform for global coverage as their customers increasingly look beyond Europe.”
