September 6 - Bellville Rodair International (BRI) says that the opening of a new office in Shenzhen yesterday marks the next step in its expansion plan for 2011.
The international forwarder has already opened offices in Moscow and Calgary earlier this year and says that following a 30 percent increase in turnover during the first quarter of 2011, another two offices are expected to be added to BRI's global network within the next six months.
Terry Walpole, chairman, describes this latest move further into China as an opportunity for a global forwarder to serve the local market. "We've had a presence in China for five years through our Shanghai office but the Shenzhen operation allows us to expand into southern China."
He adds: "It's certainly a response to increasing demand from customers and in recent years, we've seen those in the automotive, fashion and energy markets require more logistics support from us in southern China."
Whilst BRI is a general freight forwarder, one of its three specialist divisions - BRI Energy Team - specialises in handling heavy and OOG consignments. The other two divisions are BRI Couture and BRI Automotive Team.
