On November 20, 2013, President Huang held talks with the executive director of the Kerry Logistics and his team in Shanghai Advanced Institute of International Shipping on Dong Ming Campus. The heads of the president’s office, planning office, shipping research center and so forth all took part.

President Huang Youfang introduced the great achievements that our university had made in recent years in the field of shipping logistics from the perspectives of discipline construction, student cultivation, international program and so forth, and focused on the newly-established Institute of Chinese FTA Supply Chain. He pointed out that it was the important strategic measure by Shanghai Maritime University to establish the institute to assist the progress of Shanghai FTA’ s transformation to International Supply Chain Center. This institute aimed to enhance the construction level of our national FTA industry chain and to promote the developments of Free Trade Area which was going to undergo a transformation from cargo trade to service trade. President Huang said, it was of great importance to establish Institute of Chinese FTA Supply Chain, and Shanghai Maritime University was striving to establish it into a Think Tank where FTA top-notch talents would stay together and make efforts for our national FTA supply chain. The institute would provide service in decision-making for the government and enterprises.

The two sides also mentioned the cooperative issues. President Huang indicated that FTA practice brought about changes to trade environment which were both opportunities and challenges to enterprises. The brand new problem that enterprises were faced with was how to adjust to the changes where a better road for developments could be found. He hoped that the both sides took advantage of their respective preponderant resources, leading an exploration and research in this field in the whole nation. President Huang also introduced the new FTA EMBA program which was lately released by Shanghai Advanced Institute of International Shipping, and the two sides exchanged views in cultivating the FTA top-notch talents. Director Gun Hao expressed his gratitude for President Huang’s interpretation of FTA’s policies from expert’s perspective. He expected that Kerry Logistics would have deeper cooperation and communication with Shanghai Maritime University in the future.

Kerry Logistics is one of the most leading third-party logistics providers in the Asia-Pacific region whose vast service network surrounds the world. This talk laid a foundation for the further communication and cooperation between the two sides.