TOKYO -- Forced to rethink its domestic product distribution by the severe truck driver shortage, retail giant Aeon has come up with a novel idea of teaming up with manufacturers and jointly shipping goods by sea.
As the first step, the major retail group will team up with Sapporo Holdings and transport beverages using a regular sea freight service connecting the port of Shimizu in Shizuoka Prefecture and the port of Oita in the namesake prefecture, starting around the end of this month. This arrangement will allow Sapporo to send soft drinks from a plant in central Japan to the southern island of Kyushu. Aeon will be able to catch the ship on the way back to Shizuoka, sending its private-brand beverages made in Kyushu.
