Schenker has assured its customers that it has no problems with operating licenses in China following a Ministry of Communications (MOC) statement that one of its NVOCC licenses was invalid.

"We wish to assure you that there will not be any disruption to our ocean freight operations in China and we will continue to provide such services using our master NVOCC licence in China," Wolfgang Draeger, Schenker senior vice-president ocean freight, told customers in a statement.

The German logistics giant said its master NVOCC licence in China is held by Schenker International (HK) Ltd. Schenker China (including all branch offices) holds a secondary NVOCC licence, which was issued by the Shanghai Urban Transport Management Bureau that dealt with the licence at that time.

"It is this secondary licence which the authorities are presently concerned with," Draeger said.

"As we understand it, that secondary NVOCC licence is not listed on the MOC website, despite the fact that it is validly held by Schenker China Ltd and we are presently in the process of determining the reasons for that."

According to a translated version of the MOC statement, Schenker China was ordered to "immediately stop illegal NVOCC operations". The MOC called on international shipping companies to refuse to receive the company's goods or containers.

Schenker said it was working closely with the Shanghai Port Management Bureau that handles NVOCC licensing matters to resolve the situation.

"Please be assured your shipments will not be affected and indeed, it is business as usual for us," Draeger told customers on the Schenker website.

Asia revenues fill a large chunk of Schenker coffers with well over US$1 billion coming from the company's Asia business.

The MOC order is likely to have an unsettling effect on Schenker customers, which is why the company has moved so quickly to allay fears.

However, ocean carriers used by the German logistics company understand that the price of doing business in the mainland means having to apply for and maintain a dizzying array of licenses.

The odds of a "discrepancy" occurring in the registration process are "excellent", a liner executive told Cargonews Asia.

Schenker and BAX Global are in the process of integrating around the world. The joint organization has a team of about 55,000 experts at 1,500 locations in 150 countries.

Together Schenker and BAX are now the world's No 1 in European land transport, No 2 in worldwide air freight, No 3 in worldwide ocean freight, No 6 in global contract logistics and No 3 in integrated heavyweight in North America.

Schenker is a part of DB Logistics, the Transportation and Logistics Division of Deutsche Bahn AG.