Logistics Giant Maersk Locates Global Service Center in Chengdu

CHENGDU, China -

A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, the world’s top logistics company, will locate its global service center in Tianfu Software Park in Chengdu, Sichuan province, showing commitment to expand operations in China.

Maersk will also set up a logistics processing branch and documents processing center in the software park; the company’s new facility will have total office area of around 15,000 sq.m., and will integrate service operations from Maersk’s other branches, covering orders, documents processing and personnel training.

“After careful and thorough evaluations in China and other countries, we finally chose Chengdu,” said Shi Kesheng, vice-president of Maersk Group. Four reasons brought about Maersk’s decision: business competitiveness, efficient government approvals, talent pool and market potential, said Shi.

Recently, lowering operating costs has become many global companies’ priority. Increasing numbers of foreign firms aim to make their footprints in the untapped western markets of China. Chengdu, economic and financial hub of southwestern China, is an ideal location for global companies to take advantage of the infrastructure, talent pool, open environment and lower operating costs. Chengdu has gradually formed a cluster of shared service centers. Numerous world-class companies, including Accenture global delivery center, DHL Shared Services Center, Lafarge back-office services center, Amazon order fulfillment center, and domestic players like Alibaba and Tencent, have set up companies there. During the first half of 2009, Accenture, DHL, JPMorgan as well as Volkswagen opened their offices in Chengdu, and 134 “Fortune 500″-listed companies already have market.

Maersk is considering further increased investments in Chengdu as part of efforts to expand business in the western market, said Shao Wei, a managing director of Maersk.

About Chengdu Tianfu Software Park

Chengdu Tianfu Software Park, funded by the Chengdu Hi-tech Zone Management Committee, has a total planned construction area of 1.3 million square meters. As of today, over 90 companies including IBM, Accenture, SAP, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia-Siemens, Singtel, DHL, Wipro and Symantec have established operations in the park, now employing over 12,000 people. Tianfu Software Park is an important partner for the development of local IT and service outsourcing industry providers, offering support services including office facilities, recruitment, human resources training, and company setup facilitation for outsourcing services.

To learn more about Chengdu Tianfu Software Park, please visit www.tfsp.cn/en-us/ .

Source: Chengdu Tianfu Software Park

Tammy, +86-28-8533-0837, zhoumin at tfsp.cn