OREANDA-NEWS. Sojitz Logistics Corporation and Maruzen Showa Unyu Co., Ltd. established Sojitz Maruzen Logistics Mexico, S.A. de C.V., a logistics joint venture located in the United Mexican States.

Mexico has recently garnered much attention as a strategic location for manufacturing companies, given the county’s proximity to the world’s second largest automobile market—the U.S., its geographic advantages as the bridge between North and South America, its abundant workforce, and its tariff incentives stemming from FTAs with 46 countries around the world, including the Japan-Mexico Economic Partnership Agreement and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It is also one of the signatories to the recently finalized Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). SMLM’s location on the Central Mexican Plateau is well equipped for access to not only the U.S., but to Asia, Europe, and South America, with automobile companies currently accelerating efforts to enter the region.

To Sojitz Logistics and Maruzen Showa, SMLM’s establishment represents an opportunity to utilize each company’s expertise in transporting large-scale equipment to construct an “integrated machinery and equipment transport service ,” encompassing everything from import customs for equipment to domestic transport and installation. In an effort to meet customers’ diverse needs, Sojitz Logistics will not only provide domestic transport of products and logistics support for procurement of raw materials through Sojitz Group’s global network, but will team up with their overseas arm, Sojitz Logistics Corporation of America (Head Office: Itasca, Illinois), to provide a “comprehensive logistics service” connecting Mexico with the U.S., Asia, and Europe.