Japanese logistics firms launch multimodal and collaborative transport initiatives

Several Japanese companies are launching new logistics initiatives to address labor shortages and reduce CO2 emissions through multimodal transportation and collaborative shipping.

JA Tsugaru Hirosaki, Nippon Express, JR Freight, and T2 have begun a demonstration project to transport apples from Aomori to the Kansai region. This project, the first in Japan to use autonomous trucks for fruit transport, combines rail freight with Level 2 autonomous driving technology using shared 31-foot containers. The goal is to verify the efficiency of integrating autonomous vehicles into long-distance logistics to create a sustainable system.

Separately, a six-company collaboration including Daikin Industries, Nipro, and JR Freight has initiated “round matching” transport. By utilizing JR Freight’s 31-foot containers to combine different types of cargo—such as Daikin’s air conditioning components moving toward Tohoku and Nipro’s medical devices moving toward Kansai—the group aims to reduce total logistics costs and CO2 emissions by an estimated 141.9 tons annually.