Penta Global Logistics Co., Ltd.
Beijing, China Site Visit
August 2, 2011
By
Eric Xiang

Key Personnel:
Mr. Dong Danqi, Managing Director/General Manager

Penta Global Logistics Co., Ltd. (PGL) is headquartered in Beijing and has branch offices in Ningbo, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Its primary business focus is on ocean freight forwarding of exports and airfreight forwarding of imports. With over 60 employees, PGL handled 30,000 TEUs (trailer/container equivalent units) of ocean freight, 10,000 metric tons of airfreight and generated gross revenue of $60 million in 2010.

For ocean freight forwarding, PGL has strong support from COSCO, one of the largest ocean shipping companies worldwide. COSCO’s Europe branch has invested in PGL since 1994. PGL also has contracts with seven other ocean carriers including CMA CGM, Hanjin Shipping, and Yang Ming Marine Transport.

Since COSCO is state owned company, the customers that PGL focuses on developing are also state owned companies such as Minmetals, CSCEC (China State Construction Engineering Corporation), etc.

For airfreight, PGL acts as the agent in China for many mid-sized freight forwarders shipping from overseas. PGL handles the import operations in the destination airports in China.

Currently, Europe, Africa, and South America are the main markets served. PGL is increasing its presence in North America. It has three agents in the U.S. located in Los Angeles, New York, and Houston.

In Beijing, PGL has a customs brokerage license and operates a 18,000 square meter warehouse. It provides customs clearance for air imports and manages warehousing and distribution according to customers’ requirements.

Although PGL only has offices in Beijing, Ningbo, Shanghai and Shenzhen, it uses agents in other gateways like Guangzhou, Qingdao, Tianjin, etc. to provide a logistics solution to end customers and match customers’ requirements for a network.

PGL had a peak season around 1997 when it had a strong network in China. Mr. Dong Danqi was the general manager at that time and led the proposal for cooperation with Air Express International (AEI) which was acquired by Deutsche Post AG in late 1999. PGL used AEI’s global network of agents overseas and was AEI’s agent in China. Mr. Danqi and the president of AEI thought about running a joint venture (JV) company between AEI and Penta, but Mr. Danqi was transferred to COSCO Europe after 1998 and his successor did not follow up the JV idea with AEI. We believe that PGL lost a good opportunity with AEI. Mr. Danqi is a good business man and is now back leading PGL again. PGL needs to expand in the U.S. and is interested in finding another partner like AEI.

Sources: A&A Primary Research, http://www.penta-logistics.com/