Turkish Airlines partners with ZTO, PAL Air in China logistics services venture

Turkish Airlines Cargo will partner with Chinese cargo carrier ZTO Express and “B2C” forwarding company PAL Air to launch a joint-venture logistics services company to be based in Hong Kong, capitalizing on the booming e-commerce market emanating from China.

The tripartite will offer door-to-door logistics services, including trucking, collection and distribution, warehousing, transportation, cross-docking and final-mile delivery services.

ZTO chariman Mei Song Lai said the express carrier has felt the international growth in demand for logistics services, commenting that, in 2017, ZTO’s annual volume reached 6.22 billion parcels. The region’s e-commerce giant, Alibaba, took notice, recently publicizing its US$1.38 billion purchase of 10 percent of the carrier – which owns 27,000 service outlets and operates more than 40,000 vehicles – to be be finalized this month.

The companies have not publicized a timeline for the partnership’s services launch to date.