TIANJIN Globe Express Services (Overseas Group) and Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) will invest $16 million in Tianjin Nangang Industrial Zone through its investment arm in Hong Kong, Classified Properties Limited.
GES will build a 24,000-square-meter warehouse on 50,000 square meters of land. The company signed an agreement with chemical giant PPG industries to provide warehousing and distribution services upon completion of construction.
This marks the beginning of a strategic partnership between the two companies. By providing warehousing and distribution services to PPG, GES enables the industrial giant to focus more on its core businesses while reducing supply chain costs and gaining efficiency.
"This is the first of a series of infrastructure investments the company will make in China. This investment is in line with our long-term strategy," GES Chairman Bahaa Hariri said. "As we focus on the organic growth of the business, we also leverage our capital to capture expansion opportunities, which will ultimately provide unique value to our customers."
Cathy Yan, PPG Asia Pacific general manager for government affairs and business development, said she appreciates the investment from GES.
"Our facility in Tianjin has expanded from 40,000 square meters to 100,000 square meters, and we are seeking a partner with supply chain expertise. It will allow us to stay focused on the core production function to produce more value to our customers and the local government," she said.
TEDA Vice Chairman Ni Xiangyu welcomed the investment and pointed out the significance to Nangang.
"GES is committed to building a state-of-the-art warehouse with the most advanced logistics technologies, and this can complement our infrastructure support to industrial companies in this zone," he said. "As a complex covering multiple industries, we need international third party logistics provider to provide professional supply chain and logistics support to make it easier for companies who want to invest here."
"We have been serving the second largest chemical company in the world in other areas of the world, and we believe Nangang is where we should be now for our sustained growth in the future," GES CEO Ziad R. Korban said. "It is people who make a difference, through the officials of Tianjin and Binhai New Area, we see the optimistic future of Nangang and our investment here."
Globe Express Services (Overseas Group) offers well-rounded suite of logistics services to companies doing business in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and around the world. Since 1974, the company has fostered its customers' supply chain success through ocean and air freight forwarding, overland transport, customs brokerage and compliance consulting.
Founded in 1883, PPG Industries serves customers in industrial, transportation, consumer products, and construction markets and aftermarkets. The company operates in more than 60 countries around the globe. Sales in 2010 were $13.4 billion.
As an integral part of Tianjin's Twin-cities and Twin-ports Strategy, the Nangang Industrial Zone is a dedicated chemical industrial park developed under the TEDA brand. Located in the south of Tianjin Binhai New Area, 45 kilometers away from Tianjin city proper, the 200-square-kilometer zone will be built into a heavy chemical industrial base focused on petro-chemical, supporting equipment manufacturing and logistics. It will also have a port function complex.
Many Fortune 500 companies and local or multinational chemical giants, including Dow Chemical and Petro China, have decided to set up projects in Nangang Industrial Zone. Construction on some projects are underway, and some are operational.
