Our mission as a Japanese logistics company with a formidable presence in China
Alps Logistics started building our own operation network in China ahead of the rest of our industry. We now have over 25 years of experience, during which time we've established 11 local subsidiaries and 26 branches and worked tirelessly to refine our unique know-how and network. Today we're ideally placed to assist Japanese companies looking to operate in China, as well as companies with an existing presence in China who want to improve their mainland logistics across China.
Unique know-how built up as a company in the vanguard
Our own operation honed over 25 years
Alps Logistics has grown its business in China in tandem with the remarkable economic development experienced by the entire country. Across our 11 local subsidiaries, we operate 26 branches and employ more than 1,500 local staff to offer a wide range of services, from international forwarding, to warehouse management including bonded warehousing, domestic transport within China, and our Global One Channel Service, a seamless door-to-door service linking customers with their delivery destinations. Behind us is the expertise and know-how that we've only been able to obtain by establishing strong roots across China over the past 25 years.
“It's challenging to build logistics in China”. We hear this a lot from our customers. But why are logistics in China so hard? Simply put, it's because you need to have a strong understanding of China's unique systems of commercial distribution, regulations, and in-bond system. Our learning and our efforts to improve have been tirelessly focused on these very specialties of Chinese logistics.
If you're planning to launch operations in China or reviewing your current operations, please consider entrusting your logistics to Alps Logistics, the experts in Chinese logistics schemes.
The three key challenges of China's complex logistics
International forwarding through our own operation network
Alps Logistics has secured all necessary licenses to operate in each region of China and is able to handle all ocean and air freight independently.
We can offer an international forwarding service through such major Chinese ports and airports as Dalian, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. Without local subcontract companies, we can guarantee the same quality of service globally, prevent cargo damage and shipment mistakes, and work constantly towards improving our transport quality. In addition, we can provide bonded warehouse operations across Northeast China, North China, East China, and South China and even handle customs clearance on behalf of our customers. Alps Logistics is recognized by China's customs administrations as an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO), which translates into a number of distinct advantages for our customers, including lower customs inspection rates, post-entry for customs clearance, significantly shortened clearance lead times, and reductions in handling fees for customs inspections.
The fact that we are equipped with every logistics function a customer could need for its Chinese operations is one reason why we are regarded as such a formidable logistics presence in China.
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Logistics functions to maximize the potential of bonded areas
Bonded areas optimal for VMI operations
“We want to offer Just In Time Delivery to assembly manufacturers in China”. Suppliers and trading companies located outside China who want to achieve this are all challenged by the question of how to interpret China's bonded areas. For more than 25 years, Alps Logistics has been involved in logistics in China, and in that time we've accumulated formidable expertise and know-how on the use of bonded areas (bonded systems). Depending on bonded area type—bonded zones, export processing zones, bonded logistics zones, bonded port zones, general bonded zones—the businesses that can use them, the features, and the usage options all differ. Alps Logistics can identify the optimal combination of logistics services for each customer's commercial logistics needs.
For example, even a company with no local subsidiary in China can, by using Alps Logistics' bonded areas (warehouses), retain and sell cargo in China as non-resident's assets. What's more, by operating a bonded area (warehouse)-based VMI, bulk deliveries to manufacturers located within China become possible. With our wealth of experience in bonded areas, you can leave it to us at Alps Logistics.
Example of bonded area use: VMI operation
Virtual exports through bonded logistics zones
Products of toll conversion should, rightfully, be exported overseas, but it is possible to complete sales within China by making use of bonded logistics zones. Let's say a customer's delivery destination is to an assembly manufacturer located within China. By “exporting” goods virtually to a bonded logistics zone, it becomes possible to sell those goods to that same domestically located Chinese assembly manufacturer. This will also enable the customer to achieve shorter lead times and reduce logistics costs.
What's more, these bonded logistics zones allow trading companies without a local subsidiary to procure from and sell to domestically located Chinese companies. When procuring items from such Chinese companies through general trading, the use of bonded logistics zones makes it possible to receive VAT(Value Added Tax) refunds.
Alps Logistics has warehouses in bonded logistics zones across China, including in such key locations as Shanghai and Tianjin. We also have warehouses in export processing zones, bonded port zones, and general bonded zones, where similar operations are possible.
China is a country of remarkable economic growth, as well as of robust domestic demand. In addition to warehouses in bonded logistics zones, Alps Logistics also has domestic warehouses and bonded warehouses. We can use our logistics assets in accordance with each customer's unique commercial distribution model and needs, enabling us to find your optimal logistics scheme.
Using bonded logistics zones to complete sales within China
Achieving Japan-quality logistics throughout China
Our China-wide network
Alps Logistics is able to offer the same logistics quality across China as we do across Japan thanks to our dual focus: ensuring our centers are driven by in-house operations and training our local staff. We offer freight services that cover the whole of China via long haul trucks running between major cities. For example, our special rapid services “Alps Tokkaibin” are scheduled consolidated services, connecting Tianjin and Shanghai, and Shanghai and Dongguan in Guangdong Province respectively, in just 24 hours. This makes it possible to achieve a door-to-door lead time equivalent to that of air freight when sending goods from the Shanghai area to the Guangdong or Tianjin areas. We operate some 170 company-owned trucks on these routes, the position of each we can ascertain instantaneously through GPS for total customer reassurance. It goes without saying that our high quality logistics service also eliminates the risk of cargo being damaged or left-off.
What's more, Alps Logistics has a unique understanding of how to handle monozukuri (manufacturing) cargo, such as electronic components and automotive electronics, thanks to more than half a century of experience. Through our advanced warehouse operations, based on an understanding of the Logistics Individuality of each product, we are able to offer a range of distribution processing services and work on the first-in, first-out basis in relation to product quality. We have a variety of logistics functions that can provide powerful back-up for Japanese companies working to meet domestic demand in China.
Alps Logistics' network in China
Comprehensive support including specialist Japanese staff
No matter how outstanding the overall service, it's never acceptable if the quality differs depending who is providing it. At Alps Logistics, not only are we committed to training our local staff, we also allocate Japanese staff well-versed in the exceptional quality of service we offer in Japan to each of our overseas warehouses and offices. We send Japanese staff to supervise warehousing and system operation in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, creating a framework that allows us to respond to the logistics needs of our customers.
Take the example of setting up a warehouse in China. Japanese staff take the local staff through the skills training necessary to be able to use ACCS, Alps Logistics' unique warehouse management system. In addition to making sophisticated warehouse operations possible, ACCS is also compatible with multiple languages, and has been praised by Japanese and Chinese users alike for its ease of use.
Through the kind of detailed-oriented approach you would expect from a Japanese company, Alps Logistics is here to support Japanese companies in making their China breakthroughs.