Company Visit - Kerry Logistics

Our visit to Kerry Logistics Cargo Centre at Kwai Chung

Kerry Cargo Centre

Kerry Logistics is a Hong Kong based logistic company. Acting as one of the largest Hong Kong logistics company, Kerry’s main focus is on Asian countries and acting as a premier 3PL service provider in terms of managed warehouse GFA (Gross Floor Area) and revenue.

With around 570,000 square meters logistics facilities in Hong Kong¹ and that of 39 million square feet internationally, having 19,000 employees, logistics footprints spread at 35 countries and 6,500 self-owned trucks, Kerry has shown its capability and assets to be a leading player in integrated logistics and International Freight Forwarding (IFF).

For the coverage of business in Greater China, Kerry has 13,000 employees, 24 million square feet logistics facilities and 17 warehouses in China.

While in Hong Kong, it has 12 warehouses. As mentioned above, Kerry has around 570,000 square meters logistics facilities in Hong Kong. For the largest warehouse in Hong Kong which is located in Kwai Chung (Kerry Cargo Centre), has the floor area accounted to 134,100 square meters. It has one whole floor which is leased by Hong Kong Disneyland. inside this cargo  One of the logistics centre in Tai Po is called PC³ (Product Customization and Consolidation Centre), which is the first Hong Kong industrial building that certified with HK-BEAM (Gold) award and an worldwide-recognized green building accreditation called LEED award². PC³ is a distribution centre designed for international fashion and lifestyle brand names, such as LV and Marks & Spencer. The warehouses in Cheung Sha Wan, Kerry Hung Kai Warehouse and the one in Kowloon Bay, called Kerry D.G. Warehouse (Kowloon Bay), can be used to store and manage dangerous goods. One of the cargoes that Kerry Warehouse (Chai Wan) stored is video tapes.

In Asia, Kerry possesses a seaport called Kerry Siam Seaport which accounted for 460,000 square meters in Sriracha of Thailand.

Coming to the distribution network in ASEAN, KART connects the countries and regions in ASEAN in road transportation just like the MTR in Hong Kong. Starting with route 1, Kunming (China) to Bangkok (Thailand), where the head office located; route 2, which connecting China, Vietnam and Bangkok; route 3, connected Bangkok and Cambodia; route 4, joined Bangkok and Laos and the last one is route 5 which joined Singapore, Malaysia and Bangkok. This powerful road transportation network will be reinforced with effective long-haul trucking, sea-land and air-land services.

When asking for what makes the company different from the traditional logistics and SCM company, Kerry said it has two factors that makes the company becomes outstanding. The first one is the IT system. Kerry has a sophisticated IT system called KerrierVISION that can visualize the supply chain of customers’ goods, for instance where the cargo is now and give full transparency and control throughout the whole supply chain. This can give a sense of security and confidence to the customer. Since every customer’s business portfolio is different. So each individual customer can be provided with highly customized solutions. Customer can benefit from the increased cost effectiveness by checking their inventory, freight, purchase order and delivery checking. Seamless information flow can be ensured as KerrierVISION provides a common platform to connect all the parties and allow flexible system integration of a number of different monitoring channels for easier management.

Another factor is people. Since Kerry has a worldwide coverage, it will localize the business in each region or countries by hiring the local professionals that means there are no culture gaps between the customers and Kerry. A team of specialized people with strong project management experience will help the company to know the customer’s business comprehensively.

With the help of strong assets in both Integrated Logistics and IFF, Kerry can be able to provide tailor-made Supply Chain Solutions to their customers. Since diversified service portfolio enables efficiencies and competitiveness, so Kerry provide services in the following areas including Fashion and Lifestyle (F&L), Electronics and Technology (E&T), Food and Beverage (F&B), Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), Industrial & Material Science (IMS), Automotive (AUTO), Pharmaceutical &Healthcare (PHARMA) to suit different industries specific needs.

Kerry also provides Value-added Service (VAS) to their customers. For F&L, Garment-on-Hanger (GOH), labelling, stock take, gift packing, call center support, ironing, tagging, sorting and GOH delivery are supplementary services available to customers when needed. For Electronics and Technology (E&T), kitting, in-transit assembling, RMA function testing and conversion are provided as VAS for customers. For Food and Beverage (F&B), it provides temperature control trucks and warehouse, stock take, labelling, date printing and wrapping services to customers as choices.

As inspired by the amount of eco-friendly policy that Kerry’s warehouse are using and the green energy award that obtained by Kerry, I am more aware about the environmental issues as the role of Hongkonger. Since the power consumed by industrial building are one of the great sources of energy consumption, by adopting green energy policy will not only give a helping hand to the environment, this will also help the company to save money.

During the time of visit, we have raised a set of questions about the company. The followings are some questions and answers from Kerry.

Q and A session

Q: What policies does Kerry Logistics provide to protect the clients’ interest if the warehouse inventory was damaged or lost due to some accidents incurred?

A: To minimize the risk that faced by our customers, we have adapted the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) policy to meet customer’s needs that have explicitly listed in SOP so that both expectation from the client and the company can be aligned. The second policy is that the company will compensate the customers if it is really Kerry’s fault and therefore insurance are provided to secure their own assets for the clients.

Q: What has Kerry Logistics done for corporate social responsibility? 

A: For CSR policy, it is not only about financial success, but about how to make the company sustained in the long run. First, Kerry has good corporate citizenship. For instance, the staff of company joined volunteer work regularly, participated in Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon and walked in Kong Kong’s Green Power Hike. For internal health of the staff, they have a balanced working life and social life. For environmental protection, Kerry has been granted ISO accreditations ISO 14001: 2004 Certification for Environmental Management System (EMS), for example, the company has decreased 5% electricity usage in 2012.