[ Panalpina and Sinotrans Sign Partnership Agreement Coop. ]

Panalpina and Sinotrans Sign Partnership Agreement Cooperation to Expe
nd Market Position in China

Panalpina, the global forwarding and logistics group that operates in
65 countries word-wide, and Sinotrans, China’s biggest forwarding co
mpany employing over 57,000 people, have today signed a long-time stra
tegic partnership agreement in Basel.
The agreement, which goes far beyond the agency agreements signed by
the two parties and their subsidiaries since 1985 aims at long-term co
operation in air and seafreight, land feeder services warehousing and
distribution, preject and trade fair forwarding, shipping agency and c
harter business. Cooperation will also extend to IT development work i
ncluding joint training and management development programmes.
Sinotrans President Luo Kaifu is convinced that the preferred partner
ship between Sinotrans and Panalpina is a win-win deal. “It will help
us have an even better mutual understanding and enable each side to l
everage on the other’s strengths to make itself stronger. It will be
nefit both parties with the well-developed networks of Sinotrans withi
n China and the group-wide network, the vast resources and strategic v
ision of Panalpina. What’s more important is that with the joint effo
rts and intergrated logistics network of both parties, we are in a pos
ition to provide customers with more reliable and more efficient logis
tics services.
According to Panalpina CEO Bruno Sidler, the agreement serves as a sp
ringboard from which both organizations will he able to strengthen the
ir positions on the Chinese and international marjet. “The network of
branches which Sinotrans operates throughout China ideally complement
s our own network structures, and reliable forwarding concepts from al
l the major airports and seaports to the industrial centres of China’
s Western hinterland. In addition, the cooperation will involve streng
thening the trading links woth the CIS countries and other areas, wher
e Panalpina can also call upon a so;id organizational structure.”