, or KWE, is a major

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese

freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...

forwarding company. It is a subsidiary of the Japanese railway holding company

Kintetsu Group Holdings , referred to as , is a Japanese railway holding company which primarily owns the Kintetsu Railway as well as Kintetsu World Express, Kintetsu Department Store, and its other 141 corporations, which are collectively known as Kintetsu Group. It ...

(''近鉄グループホールディングス株式会社 Kintetsu gurūpu hōrudeingusu kabushiki gaisha'') and provides air and sea freight forwarding, customs brokerage, and warehouse inventory management services.

History

In 1948, the Operations Bureau of Kintetsu Corporation began handling international freight and travel services. Shortly after, the

International Air Transport Association The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

(IATA) approves Kintetsu Corporation as an agency. In 1955, Kintetsu Corporation developed into Kinki Nippon Tourist Co., Ltd. (KNT), and combines its international air freight and

international tourism International tourism is tourism that crosses national borders. Globalization has made tourism a popular global leisure activity. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual ...

divisions to create a luggage handling service. The

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and United States subsidiaries were established in 1969, and Kintetsu World Express, Inc. spun off from KNT in 1970. KWE experienced rapid expansion for the next 30 years, and adopted the Quadrilateral Management System with regional headquarters for

; The Americas; Europe & Africa; and Asia &

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

. The company was first listed on the NASDAQ Japan Market (now JASDAQ Market), and a section of

Osaka Securities Exchange , renamed from , is the largest derivatives exchange in Japan, in terms of amount of business handled. , the Osaka Securities Exchange had 477 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of $212 billion. The Nikkei 225 Futures, intro ...

until 2004, when it was de-listed. In 2003, KWE’s stock listing was upgraded to the First Section of the

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. The exchange is owned by Japan Exchange Group (JPX), a holding company that it also lists (), and operated by Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc., a wholly owned sub ...

. KWE revised its management system in 2006 to a Five Regional Management System to better support its 40 affiliated companies and 10 representative offices in 32 countries outside Japan: management was established for Japan; The Americas; Europe, Middle East & Africa; Southeast Asia; and Asia & Oceania. In 2008, KWE acquired

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

-based TKK Logistics Co. Ltd., formerly known as Thai Kargo Kare Co., Ltd. In 2012, Kintetsu World Express, Inc. signed a joint venture agreement with

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

-based provider Gati to form Gati-Kintetsu Express Pvt. Ltd. The joint venture would provide express distribution and supply chain solutions across the

Asia Pacific Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

region and

SAARC The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, ...

countries. In 2015, Kintetsu World Express, Inc. acquired

APL Logistics APL Logistics Ltd. (APLL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kintetsu World Express, Inc. (KWE), a Japan-based freight forwarding and transportation company. As a global supply chain specialist, APL Logistics trades in more than 60 countries, serving ...

from

Neptune Orient Lines Neptune Orient Lines Limited (NOL) was a Singaporean container shipping company. It was founded in 1968 as Singapore's national shipping line, but was later sold as a subsidiary to French shipping company CMA CGM in 2016. On 1 October 2020, NO ...

(NOL) for US $1.2 billion.{{Cite web , date=2015-02-18 , title=NOL to sell APL Logistics to Japan's KWE for US$1.2b , url=http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/transport/nol-to-sell-apl-logistics-to-japans-kwe-for-us12b , website=businesstimes.com.sg

Board of chairmen

* Kazuyasu Ueda, chairman of the board * Nobutoshi Torii, representative director and president * Joji Tomiyama, director and executive vice president * Keisuke Hirata, director and managing executive officer * Katsufumi Takahashi, director and managing officer * Kiyoyuki Hirosawa, director and managing officer * Tetsuya Kobayashi, outside director * Yukio Ueno, outside director * Sanae Tanaka, outside director

References

Logistics companies of Japan Transport companies based in Tokyo Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Japanese brands Kintetsu Group Holdings