Nippon Express Purchases Marine Transport Agency Business in Taiwan

Nippon Express (Taiwan) Co., Ltd. ("NET"; established: March 1988, head office: Taipei; president: Shoichi Okamoto), an NE Group company in Taiwan, recently concluded an agreement effective January 1, 2007 with Southbound Freight Inc. (head office: Taipei), a marine transport agency in Taiwan, on the transfer of Southbound Freight's ocean transport agency business to NET. On that same date (January 1, 2007), NET will also be acquiring all of the shares of Southbound Freight's affiliate company Beacon International Express Corp.

NET primarily handles air cargo forwarding, warehousing, and removals at present, and Southbound Freight has served as the NE Group's marine transport agent for ocean cargo forwarding operations throughout Taiwan.

Acquisition of Southbound Freight's marine transport agency business should increase NET's sales by about 40% over their present level, with annual sales expected to exceed ¥10 billion. The buyout will also add four locations (head office in Taipei and branches in Keelong, Yangmei, and Taichung) to NET's nine existing locations and allow NET to pursue a substantial expansion of its business scale.

With manufacturers increasingly moving their production bases to the mainland and seeking a suitable division of labor among Taiwan, China and other countries, there has been a shift away from the handling of cargo between Taiwan and Japan and toward "Taiwan to Asia/America/Europe" logistics centered on Taiwan-China logistics.

As this trend grows stronger, consolidation of marine transport, air cargo, and warehousing operations at NET will enable the provision of order-made transport modes suited to varying customer needs.

Head office:	Taipei (established October 1980)
Representative:	Hank Chu
Form of acquisition:	acquisition by transfer of marine transport agency business
Capital:	NTD 40 million (approx. ¥140 million)
Sales:	NTD 749 million (approx. ¥2,622 million)
Ordinary profit:	NTD 30 million (approx. ¥105 million)
Employees:	60
Principal businesses:	ocean cargo forwarding, warehousing, customs clearance (figures are as of December 2005)

Head office:	Taipei (established July 1991)
Representative:	Hank Chu
Form of acquisition:	purchase of all shares
Capital:	NTD 10 million (approx. ¥35 million)
Sales:	NTD 126 million (approx. ¥441 million)
Ordinary profit:	NTD 4 million (approx. ¥14 million)
Employees:	7
Principal businesses:	air/ocean cargo forwarding, warehousing, customs clearance (figures are as of December 2005)