Sumitomo-FedEx tie up

Sumitomo-FedEx tie up

TOKYO (Dow Jones): Sumitomo Corp. has tied up with U.S. courier FedEx Corp. to set up a distribution network in Southeast Asia, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.

FedEx's first business alliance with a Japanese general trading house is aimed at benefiting from Sumitomo's broad customer base and the U.S firm's extensive distribution network.

The companies will start the service in Vietnam, targeting Japanese companies operating there. Dragon Logistics Co., a Hanoi-based firm in which Sumitomo has an equity stake, will serve as a local cargo-collection agency for FedEx.

FedEx will also invite U.S. companies to rent space in an industrial park that Sumitomo will open in the Hanoi suburbs in late May.

If the industrial park is successful, the partners hope to begin air-cargo flights between Japan and Vietnam using FedEx cargo flights. Other initiatives include the joint development of freight containers for safe transport of high-tech products made in the industrial park, company sources said.