SIMIC

With the secured investment from US Charlotte-based Ridgemont Equity Partners in January, the company said it will expand its warehouse and fulfilment centre in Shenzhen aimed at increasing capacity by 400 per cent to 250,000 parcels a day. It will also support strong B2B demand for Seko's Value Added Freight Forwarding (VAFF) services.

Seko will also open more new office locations and employ more staff following the company's major contract wins in China in 2020.

Seko's APAC head office in Hong Kong and China headquarters in Shanghai have already overseen rapid growth of the company's China marketplace services, with some 300 staff already serving B2B and B2C clients from its offices in Shanghai and Ningbo as well as from collection centres in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Yiwu and Xiamen.

SEKO has also more than doubled capacity at its showcase omni-channel fulfilment centre in Hong Kong to over 200,000 sq ft, through investments in multiple mezzanine floors, pick towers, and dedicated areas for value added freight forwarding services including ocean freight consolidation services in China, expedited ocean freight, sea/air services, air charters and origin freight management services. The building is also equipped with secure and temperature-controlled facilities for high value products.

The opening of a Seko office in Hangzhou 18 months ago enabled it to build its share of the cross-border e-commerce market from China's Zhejiang province for all inbound and outbound ecommerce movements.

Qingdao was the latest Seko office to open in China in February 2021 and will be followed later this year by the expansion of SEKO's existing facility in Shenzhen to serve multichannel customers in China doing business across the globe. The rapid growth of Seko's China Export Hub facilities has been driven by its acquisition of Air-City, Inc in the US, in 2020 and its partnership with Hermes Germany GMBH in Europe. The acceleration of the company's network expansion in China, and the hiring of more sales and operations staff, will also help to serve sellers sending millions of daily parcels a day to Europe, the US and other international markets.

"With the encouragement of Ridgemont Equity Partners, Seko is entering an exciting new phase of rapid growth, and China is at the forefront of our plans as we look to extend Seko's footprint to serve our clients wherever they need us. We are increasing our ability to help customers who want their product to be fulfiled in Hong Kong to cater to online orders in China and Asia," said Anthony Barnes, Seko's COO, APAC.