US speed courier firm FedEx Express yesterday celebrated its 15th anniversary in the country, and at the same time announced the relocation and expansion of its Taoyuan operations center to meet growing demand in the market.
Situated alongside the cargo terminal at the CKS International Airport, the new facility is nearly three times larger than the previous one, with twice the capacity. The new facility can sort up to 4,000 packages per hour, Scott Williams, managing director for FedEx Taiwan, told a press conference yesterday.
The new center, which is set to begin service next Monday, will complement the operations of the company's CKS Transshipment Center, Williams said.
He did not specify the amount of money being injected into the new facility, saying merely that the investment was "substantial."
"We are optimistic about the prospects for Taiwan's express and logistics industry," Williams said, citing export and import statistics from the Ministry of Finance.
For the first 10 months of the year, exports hit US$155 billion, representing 7.97 percent growth from a year ago, while imports jumped by 10.7 percent to US$151 billion in the same period.
Having entered the market in 1990 with 200 employees and five operation stations, Fedex now has 850 employees, eight stations and 114 service centers nationwide.
"We're having the best year of business this year, and the expansion reinforces our commitment to Taiwan," Williams said.
The growth momentum is driven to a large extent by the nation's resilient small and medium-sized enterprises, which Williams said are very competitive regardless of the economic outlook.
By region, North America is still the largest destination for the exports business due to its market size, but business with China and Europe has also grown significantly in recent years, he said.
The average size of products shipped from Taiwan has been gradually shrinking, and their life cycles are getting shorter, which benefited FedEx's business in Taiwan, Williams said.
The improvements the government has made to clearance procedures have also
helped the logistics industry, he added.
The government has set up a one-stop clearance station for companies within
the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (新竹科學園區) to speed up
transportation.
Asked whether FedEx will make use of the Far Glory Free Trade Zone Air Cargo
Park (遠翔FTZ航空貨物園區), which was inaugurated on Tuesday, Williams said
the company is still gathering information to evaluate the zone's value.
The new Taoyuan station will be able to meet demand from the free-trade zone
for at least the next five years, he said.
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