Turkish Cargo, the cargo division of Turkish Airlines, has inked a partnership agreement with ZTO and Pal Air. As per the agreement, a new joint venture will be established in Hong Kong will provide a range of logistic services.

This will include door to door logistics activities; trucking, collection & distribution, freight transportation, cross-docking and final mile delivery. The new JV will also offer warehouse management, order and supply chain management services.

The new business is set to address the booming global express and courier industry, which back in 2016 recorded around $260bn in revenue realisation and is now expected to reach $30bn by 2020. Further forecasts project the segment to reach $400bn by 2023.

Commenting on the agreement and new JV, M. Ilker Aycı, chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, Turkish Airlines, said: “Today, I feel privileged to welcome you all for the signing ceremony of a great partnership agreement between the biggest brands of China and Turkey.

As Turkish Airlines, ZTO Express and PAL Air Ltd., we are announcing the signing of MoU to build a Joint Venture company to operate as a Global Express/ Courier company mainly focusing on Global E-commerce market with full door to door services.”

He added: “We are now delighted to make this strategic move into Global Express business together with the strong partnership of ZTO, the best and largest Express company from China and our long-term cross-border forwarding partner PAL Air from Hong Kong.”

“The joint venture, after reaching quickly to fully functional and operational levels, is expected to take place within the world’s largest integrators. In five years’ time, it will generate over $2bn of revenue. The growth is expected to continue gradually parallel to the e-commerce demand.”