Sino-Global Shipping America, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SINO), a non-state-owned provider of shipping agency and forwarder services operating primarily in China, announced the establishment of a new subsidiary in Shanghai, China. The subsidiary, Trans Pacific Logistics Shanghai, Ltd., increases Sino-Global's presence to nine ports in mainland China and will enable the Company to provide a full range of shipping agency services as well as freight forwarder services. Sino-Global has contractual arrangements with local shipping agencies in all mainland Chinese ports in which it does not have a branch office.
"While the economic downturn has taken a toll on China's shipping industry, it also affords us the opportunity to expand into complementary areas of business while the cost of doing so is low," said Cao Lei, Sino-Global's chief executive officer. "Our new Shanghai subsidiary will allow us to provide our clients with the same level of integrated and high-quality shipping agency services while also providing non-asset-based logistics services for freight transport over water."
Located at the front edge of the Yangtze River Delta, the port of Shanghai lies in the middle of the 18,000-kilometer eastern coastline of mainland China. The port of Shanghai is one of the major hub ports in China's coastal area and plays an important role in China's integration with the global economy. The port's annual foreign trade cargo throughput accounts for about 20% of the total volume of China's coastal ports. In 2007, Shanghai was the busiest port worldwide in terms of cargo throughput and second busiest in terms of container throughput.