NEXT Logistics Japan Co., Ltd. (Hereafter “NLJ.” HQ: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. President: Yukio Umemura), a subsidiary of Hino Motors, Ltd. (Hereafter “Hino.” HQ: Hino City, Tokyo. President & CEO: Yoshio Shimo), will be joined by Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. (Hereafter “Asahi GHD.” HQ: Sumida-ku, Tokyo. President: Akiyoshi Koji), Ezaki Glico Co., Ltd. (Hereafter “Ezaki Glico.” HQ: Osaka City, Osaka. President: Katsuhisa Ezaki), CHIYODA-UNYU Co.,Ltd. (Hereafter “CHIYODA-UNYU.” HQ: Hino City, Tokyo. President: Isao Mizuno), Trancom Co., Ltd. (Hereafter “Trancom.” HQ: Nagoya City, Aichi. President: Yutaka Tsunekawa), and U-netrans Co., Ltd (Hereafter “U-netrans.” HQ: Toyoda City, Aichi. President: Shinichiro Imai) to bring together the expertise and technologies of these companies involved in logistics, which include cargo owners, transport companies, freight-required/trucks-required service companies and vehicle manufacturers, with the objective of commercializing a new trunk-route transportation scheme to provide solutions to the escalating issues in logistics. The companies will invest a total of approximately 100 million yen in NLJ, and launch operations on December 9.
Since its establishment in June 2018, NLJ has been conducting demonstration experiments aimed at solving society’s logistics issues. Due to shifts in our societal environment―such as the aging population and growing needs for individual delivery―the transport industry has been facing significant driver shortages and declines in loading rates, a trend that is particularly evident in trunk-route transportation. As companies who share the same sense of crisis in logistics, we are committed to working together to begin the operation of a new transport scheme aimed at achieving efficiency and labor saving on the Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka trunk, which is currently a major bottleneck for logistics.
We will build cross-docking centers in two locations, at the east and west ends, to aggregate freight from different cargo owners. In addition to mix-loading freight in optimal arrangements that are calculated from freight and vehicle information, we will also perform load matching for vacant spaces to maximize loading efficiency. By mix-loading freight with different attributes, such as size, weight, and transport frequency, we will be able to make maximum use of vehicles’ carrying weight and volume capacities, as well as achieving level loading rates throughout the year by taking into account the different periods of demand.
As for vehicles, we will use specially developed 25m class double-coupled trucks with greater loading efficiency to save labor in logistics operations by enabling a single driver to transport two heavy-duty trucks’ worth of freight.
Furthermore, in line with our aim to achieve the utilization of information from the driver-vehicle-freight trilogy, we will achieve visualization of the cargo compartment with the use of various sensors, and implement programs for improving drivers’ quality of sleep to help manage their physical conditions―in addition to utilizing data acquired from Hino’s “HINO CONNECT” ICT service―so that we may realize safe, secure, and sustainable transportation. Additionally, in order to reform work styles for drivers, we will work on separating transportation and cargo handling work, and putting a stop to long working hours.
Moving forward, we will accumulate know-how through real-world operations and expand the circle of participating companies to evolve this trunk-route transportation scheme. Going forward, we are committed to serving our societies by establishing a logistics system that will be available to all cargo owners and transport companies.
