Standing in the window period of a new round of adjustment of the photovoltaic industry, the Sakaimo Group and photovoltaic enterprises are going overseas at the same pace and stepping up their global layout.

At present, the photovoltaic industry has developed into an independent and controllable industry in China's whole industry chain and has a leading edge in the world. Under the circumstance that overseas terminal demand remains strong, how to go overseas smoothly, make the industry more international, and establish a stable, safe and efficient supply chain has become one of the key factors for photovoltaic enterprises to consider, which also brings more supply chain opportunities.

Shanghai Sakaiko Supply Chain Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Sakaiko Group) has received the continuous trust of many leading photovoltaic companies, intuitively from the data, as of mid-December 2024, the business volume and revenue data of Sakaiko Group are eye-catching, achieving a substantial year-on-year growth, and net profit has also increased simultaneously.

Wu Haiou, chairman of the Sakaiko Group, said in an interview with this reporter: "De-channelization and breaking through the traditional supply chain enterprise positioning are the secrets of success.

Walk with "light" and deepen the supply chain

As a young international supply chain enterprise, Sakaiminato Group has embarked on a path of innovation and development that goes deep into the photovoltaic industry.

Sakaiminato Group provides end-to-end one-stop supply chain solutions, mainly engaged in professional supply chain services in new energy, automotive and other industries, with business distribution in China, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, India, Australia, the United States, Brazil and other countries, with a total global warehousing area of more than 300,000 square meters and more than 2,000 vehicles controlled and operated.

"We started serving PV companies 10 years ago, and have followed PV customers through the whole process of vigorous development and industry transformation of the industry." Wu Haiou said.

In the process of empowering China's photovoltaic industry to go overseas, Sakaiminato Group has gradually upgraded from the traditional international logistics services of door-to-port and international transportation in China to overseas warehousing services, bonded services, tax deferral, and local distribution services.

The 2024 annual conference of the photovoltaic industry summarized the development trend of the photovoltaic industry, and the industry believes that the global photovoltaic installed capacity market will remain high, and China's photovoltaic industry is facing challenges such as "the growth rate of domestic production capacity is slowing down and overseas production capacity is gradually rising", "policy adjustment has brought new changes to the distributed photovoltaic industry", "new energy entering the market is facing the double test of uncertain electricity and electricity prices", and "the uncertainty of overseas markets has been further improved".

The data shows that in terms of production capacity of photovoltaic product enterprises, the growth rate of domestic production capacity has slowed down, and the number of production, construction and planning projects has decreased by more than 75% year-on-year, but overseas production capacity has gradually picked up. From January to October 2024, the export volume of photovoltaic modules increased by nearly 20% year-on-year, and the export volume of photovoltaic cells increased by more than 40%. However, in terms of trade volume, the total export value of China's photovoltaic products (silicon wafers, cells, modules) was about 28.14 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of about 34.5%, and the overall trend of "price reduction and volume increase" continued.

Changes in the trade situation will inevitably affect the supply of logistics. While the photovoltaic industry has entered a new round of adjustment cycle, Sakaiko Group has completed the expansion of its logistics network. In 2023, the Sakaiko Group will set up branches in the Netherlands and Germany in Europe, and the Sakaiko Group will set up a Ningbo branch in China on the basis of its Shanghai, Wenzhou, and Nanjing branches.

The Sakaiminato Group does not fight unprepared battles. Before settling in Europe, based on the prediction made by China's photovoltaic industry going overseas, as early as 2018, it began to deploy overseas warehousing and distribution resources and capabilities locally.

Wu Haiou said: "With the development and precipitation in recent years, the integration of warehousing and distribution products in Europe has become the core competitiveness of our Sakaiko Group, and we currently have warehouses in 8 EU countries, totaling about 250,000 square meters, and at the same time providing 7×24 hours of distribution in the whole EU, which has made a name for itself in the European photovoltaic industry market and achieved a good market response. ”

2023 is the first year of the establishment of the share reform of the Border Port Group, and against the background of the general cliff-like decline in the logistics industry, the business volume of the Port Group will be flat year-on-year, stabilizing the operating results of the three years of the epidemic. The Dutch and German subsidiaries will be profitable in 2024. By the end of 2024, the annual container volume of the Sakaiminto Group has exceeded 100,000 TEU, achieving a growth of more than 20% for three consecutive years.

Full life cycle services for the photovoltaic industry

Under the strong market demand for global photovoltaic products, China's leading photovoltaic enterprises continue to deepen their global layout. Since 2023, leading companies in the photovoltaic industry such as JA Solar, LONGi, Jinko, TCL Zhonghuan, Canadian Solar, and Trina have accelerated the construction of overseas production capacity, actively integrated into the industrial chain system of various regions around the world, and successively announced investment in the construction of photovoltaic manufacturing projects in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and other regions.

From the 1.0 stage of China's production and overseas sales, and the 2.0 stage of international production and overseas sales, it is gradually moving towards a new development stage of global production and global sales.

From the perspective of the industrial chain, the upstream, midstream and downstream production links of the photovoltaic industry are scattered, from raw material production, parts processing and assembly, to power generation applications, and the logistics links of photovoltaic-related products are gradually extended to all parts of the world. From the perspective of supply chains, global geopolitical risks continue to rise, the Red Sea crisis has made it the norm for liners to sail around Africa, shipping freight rates are rising, and the stability of the supply chain is in crisis.

PV companies have to strengthen information research and judgment to quickly respond to emergencies, and at the same time formulate flexible logistics plans, choose alternate logistics channels or transportation methods, and improve the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain.

Taking the overseas construction project of a leading Chinese photovoltaic enterprise as an example, the Sakainato Group participated in the whole process of the company's construction and production. The construction of the factory requires transportation engineering equipment, and the logistics enterprises are required to have special transportation resources; Production needs to purchase raw materials in China, transport them to Southeast Asia for processing, and then transport them to the United States for local delivery, which requires logistics companies to have strong resource allocation capabilities and flexible logistics solutions.

Wu Haiou said that Sakaiminato Group provides one-stop supply chain solutions for industry customers to ensure the stability, safety and efficiency of the international logistics supply chain of photovoltaic enterprises. He emphasized: "We have integrated resources such as shipping companies, ports, warehousing, and distribution, and reached strategic cooperation with the core resources of various overseas sites to ensure that resources are deeply bundled, the system process is tight, and the service is active and efficient." ”

Based on an in-depth understanding of the photovoltaic industry, as a logistics solution integrator in the photovoltaic industry, Sakaiminato Group has realized the full life cycle service of photovoltaic products from pre-sales to after-sales, covering ten major links, including raw material procurement, manufacturing, factory logistics, international transportation, overseas warehousing, quality inspection, project distribution, installation and grid connection, after-sales maintenance, and scrap recycling.

Taking Europe as an example, relying on the European branch, the overseas warehousing and distribution business of Sakaiminato Group covers the whole of Europe, and the Chinese personnel provide a barrier-free one-stop service throughout the process. "In 24 years, with the European branch as a pilot, we have launched a value-added service for the whole chain node from quality detection to scrap recycling, which solves the customer's pre-sales and after-sales problems." Wu Haiou added.

Chisel the "wall" to borrow light, and logistics also go to sea

With the gradual rise of China's photovoltaic enterprises in overseas markets, the risks faced by going overseas cannot be ignored. Since 2022, the "de-Chinaization" policy trend of European and American countries in the photovoltaic industry has become increasingly significant, and countries are trying to reconstruct the global photovoltaic industry chain and supply chain by guiding the industry to return.

Taking the United States as an example, on November 29, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its preliminary affirmative ruling on its anti-dumping duty investigation of crystalline photovoltaic cells (whether assembled into modules or not) in four Southeast Asian countries. On December 11, 2024, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it would impose Section 301 tariffs on tungsten products, polysilicon and other products imported from China, with rates of 25% and 50%, respectively, effective January 1, 2025.

In the long run, in the context of global energy transformation and "dual carbon", the market space of the photovoltaic industry will become larger and larger. In the face of the challenges of international trade barriers encountered by photovoltaic companies in the short term, Realmport Group is still optimistic about the overseas market. Based on this judgment, Wu Haiou said that he will continue to serve the photovoltaic industry in depth.

He emphasized that as a logistics company, "we have broken through the positioning of traditional logistics companies and provided differentiated services".

First, Sakaiminato Group has linked senior accountants, lawyers, and customs consultants from 4A accounting firms in Europe and North America to assist customers in making early predictions, deeply understanding trade rules, doing a good job in customs planning, obtaining sales licenses, and actively providing full-chain service and resource support for photovoltaic customers going overseas.

Second, the docking and service of the Sakaiminato Group at the core site are directly connected by the headquarters or branches, and the whole process of tracking and response is carried out, and the project management is cleared and settled on a daily basis by combining digital means. Compared with the indirect docking of agency cooperation resources, the Sakaiminato Group can ensure an efficient and consistent service level.

Third, in the integration of resources, adhere to the channel, customer needs and the underlying resources to do direct docking, minimize the intermediate links, save costs and ensure service quality.

Standing at a new starting point in 2025, Wu Haiou believes that the situation of the photovoltaic industry going overseas will be more severe, and "overseas factories and local manufacturing" may become the new normal.

In fact, from the perspective of the maturity of the industrial chain, it can be seen that the construction of the photovoltaic industry chain in the European and American markets has the advantages of large scale and high gross profit margin. The Middle East market has the advantages of policy support and rapid growth, in addition, the Middle East production capacity can radiate the European and American markets, and its location advantage has far-reaching strategic significance for overseas enterprises.

The Sakaiminato Group follows the footsteps of photovoltaic companies to build factories overseas for market layout, but does not fight unprepared battles. Wu Haiou revealed to this reporter that the Sakaiko Group has conducted on-site inspections in the United States and Saudi Arabia, and based on local policies, markets, and environmental considerations, Sakaiko plans to lay out new overseas branches in 2025. Wu Haiou said: "North America and the Middle East will be a new hot spot for overseas expansion after Europe, and the Sakaiko Group will further strengthen the construction process of overseas localized branches, and step up the layout of North America and Middle East branches to ensure the response to customer needs." ”

Especially for the U.S. market, Wu Haiou believes that there is still a one-year buffer period before Trump's tariff policy is implemented, "It is expected that retailers will stock up on a large number of goods, and the U.S. line will be very hot." "If the business volume is large, the Sakaiminato Group will deploy its own warehouses in the United States.

Looking forward to the future, Jinggang Group will continue to serve Chinese photovoltaic enterprises to go overseas; Talking about the long-term planning, Wu Haiou said that the overseas branches of the Sakaiko Group are expected to undertake overseas business and serve local enterprises, and at that time, the Sakaiko Group, as a Chinese logistics company, will successfully realize the dream of going overseas.

Standing in the window period of a new round of adjustment of the photovoltaic industry, Sakaiminato Group and photovoltaic enterprises are going to sea at the same pace, stepping up the global layout, and contributing to the further consolidation of China's dominant position and competitiveness in the global photovoltaic industry chain and supply chain.

This article is transferred from "China Shipping Weekly"

Author: Zhang Wanyao