Expansion & Diversification

Mr Ken Koh, the son of Mr Koh Yang Kee, joined the company in 2001 to modernise and expand the business. A steady rate of expansion followed soon after, with the addition of trucks to the fleet, property acquisition and the establishment of a freight forwarding department. 2003 marked Yang Kee’s first expansion overseas, into Malaysia, to provide cross border logistics services, which it still does today.

The mid 2000s saw a period of focus on warehousing operations. Diversification in warehousing services was sought, with the provision of container freight station, open yard and bonded warehouse services. The highlight of our expansion was the award of the site on 8 Jurong Pier Road, right at the doorstep of Jurong Island. It sowed the seeds for the company’s biggest project to date, our very own niche chemical logistics hub, and new corporate headquarters.

Internationalisation

Market saturation is a problem which many logistics companies in Singapore would surely identify with, and Yang Kee is similarly affected by it. Our solution was to venture into foreign markets, to ally our technological advances with our partners’ local knowledge to find a winning formula. By adopting a joint venture partnership model previously, Yang Kee was able to expand into eight countries in the short span of three years.

To further expand our network and offer better services to our customers and business partners, Yang Kee Logistics recently opened new warehouses and offices in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and China. We are now strategically positioned to further our logistical service offerings to this fast-growing region.

Today, we operate our very own logistics setups and offices in 11 countries, spanning across Asia, Oceania and the US. Using our Singaporean operations as a blueprint, we aim to provide each of our offices with the ability to serve their customers with the same degree of professionalism and stability as we do here, by way of training and investment.

Our Recent Years of Growth

As part of our strategic expansion plans, Yang Kee Logistics continues to deepen its expertise and grow its presence overseas. To reach its global vision, we have been acquiring businesses that complements our business locally and overseas that has synergistic value to enhance our group-level logistical capabilities, and bring forth complementary new revenue streams for the company.

Our most notable acquisition to date includes Axima Logistics, an Australian based company, and these strategic acquisitions will drive the future growth of Yang Kee's international freight and contract logistics business by extending its footprint to huge developed markets such as Oceania, China and the US. This will also strengthen our position in key trade lanes, deepen our freight management capabilities, and expand our service offerings to customers.

To reaffirm our aspirations and our years of hard work and achievements, Yang Kee Logistics was awarded the “Most Enterprising 3PL SME of the Year 2015” at the Supply Chain Asia Awards, and was recognised as a remarkable Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) within the sector.

Yang Kee Logistics was also presented with the SME100 Award 2016 for Fast Moving Companies in recognition of its performance, hallmarking it as a notable homegrown company.

The Future

Our newly acquired additions to the Yang Kee family, including Axima Logistics, is an important milestone in Yang Kee's growth journey. We continue to see many opportunities for growth in targeted sectors such as fashion, food, healthcare and petrochemicals.

Yang Kee Logistics has also partnered with Logos Southeast Asia, to offer high-quality logistics properties in Singapore and have recently completed the building of the Yang Kee Logistics Integrated Hub @ Tuas South Link (“ILH”). Located in close proximity to the future Tuas Mega Port and established industrial parks such as the Lube Park and Tuas Biomedical Park, the ILH is well positioned to serve existing and potential customers from the shipping, industrial and oil & gas sectors.

As firm believers that innovation can be applied to all industries even traditional industries such as logistics, we hope to utilise our logistics expertise and innovation to help the industry look beyond traditional offerings and thereby contribute to the overall sustainability and competitiveness of the business environment. We are looking to build the world’s first framed multi-storey automated container depot that addresses the productivity issues the traditional industry is currently facing. This is the first private sector-led integrated logistics facility of its kind in Singapore, and will be a game changer in the industry to lead productivity gains.

This project is an indication of our commitment in creating a future depot management ecosystem where we expect the automated container depot to increase productivity by six times, prime mover driver’s productivity to increase by two times and land intensification to increase by over 200%. Currently, prime mover drivers typically queue for up to two hours to collect and return empty containers at depots. With the new automated container depot, queuing time for the drivers will be negligible, and the time spent on container surveying will significantly reduce.

Exciting time await the logistics sector, and we are thrilled to be part of this transformation journey. At Yang Kee, we move together with the world, with the times, to deliver solutions that keep business of everyday life in motion.

We move together with you.