China Southern and SF Express will develop a joint air cargo business

This piece of news comes from Cargo Facts’ Asia editor, Sam Chambers. It’ll be in our upcoming April issue, which is going to press this week, but I want to share here:

At the end of March, Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines and Shenzhen-based SF Express signed a strategic agreement under which the two companies will jointly develop air cargo business in eight cities in China: Beijing, Changsha, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Haikou, Shenyang, Dalian and Shenzhen.

“China Southern has been looking for strategic partners to enhance its competitiveness. As two important companies in the logistics chain in China, China Southern and SF Express will share advantages in network, cargo channels and so on which will lead to a win-win situation,” said Zhou Da, an official from China Southern Cargo.

The match seems to make a lot of sense: China Southern has the best domestic route network of any airline in the nation, and SF Express is the country’s leading express operator, whose growth so far has been hindered by a lack of available planes.

Zhou said the tie up should help China Southern increase its domestic air cargo volumes by 30% this year.

If you are interested in learning more about this venture, join us at Cargo Facts Asia in Hong Kong April 17 and 18, where George Li Dongqi, VP of SF Express and President of SF Airlines will be a speaker.

Note: Those of you who do not already subscribe to the monthly printed Cargo Facts newsletter, and its companion the weekly emailed Cargo Facts Update can click here for more information.