Flying Fish

What Flying Fish does

Flying Fish Inc. is a private Japanese international freight forwarder and NVOCC specializing in the import of European (primarily Italian, French, and Belgian) and Vietnamese food and beverage products into Japan. The company operates from headquarters in Tokyo, with branch offices in Osaka and overseas subsidiaries/affiliates in Genoa, Italy, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Its service portfolio spans ocean FCL/LCL forwarding, air freight, customs clearance, inland transport, and temperature-controlled cold chain logistics, supplemented by supplier-matching and procurement consulting—particularly for Japanese buyers sourcing from Vietnamese food suppliers—and a Buyer's Consolidation service that consolidates cargo from multiple suppliers into single shipments to optimize unit transportation cost.

The company's core technology asset is BORDERLESS 2.0, a proprietary customer portal launched in October 2023 that combines shipping line announcements with AI-based ETA predictions, delay risk alerts, and route visualization. The system analyzes accumulated route history, port conditions, and weather data and produces three ETA views (Original, Current, AI-predicted) plus transit-time and transshipment performance analytics by carrier and port. The portal is provided at no incremental cost to customers who book cargo with Flying Fish and is also offered as a free trial for logistics professionals.

Flying Fish generates revenue primarily through transaction fees on freight forwarding services—ocean, air, customs clearance, and inland transport—priced via bespoke quotes that vary by service scope, route, cargo type, and Incoterms. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NAIGAI TRANS LINES, one of Japan's largest ocean freight consolidators, established in 1987 as a predecessor and re-launched under its current legal form in February 2013.

Name

Flying Fish

Legal name

フライングフィッシュ株式会社

Website

https://flyingfish.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Flying Fish is a Japanese international freight forwarder and NVOCC specializing in food and beverage imports into Japan from Europe (Italy-centered) and Vietnam. It offers multimodal transport, customs clearance, cold chain logistics, supplier matching, and an AI-augmented cargo tracking portal, BORDERLESS 2.0.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

International Freight Forwarding / Multimodal Logistics

NAICS

Support Activities for Water Transportation (4883), Deep Sea, Coastal, and Great Lakes Water Transportation (48311)

SIC

Arrangement Of Transportation Of Freight & Cargo (4731), Deep Sea Foreign Transportation Of Freight (4412)

akta.pro primary industry

Air–Ocean Multimodal Forwarding (TLACAEAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Ocean Import Forwarding (Destination Handling/DO/ISF) (TLACABAE), Ocean Export Forwarding (Booking/VGM/SI/BL) (TLACABAF), Customs Brokerage for Ocean Shipments (Import/Export Clearance) (TLACABAG), Trade Compliance & Ocean Regulatory Services (Sanctions/Export Controls) (TLACABAL)

Keywords

• International freight forwarding
• Cold chain logistics
• Customs clearance services
• Ocean and air cargo
• Cargo tracking software

Headquarters

HQ city

Nishi

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. International Freight Forwarding: Core revenue from international multimodal transportation services including ocean FCL/LCL shipments, air freight, and inland transport. Fees are charged based on shipment volume, container type, routing complexity, and service scope (export/import customs clearance, loading/delivery transport, packaging).
2. Logistics Consulting: Consulting services for supplier matching, procurement strategy, and supply chain optimization, particularly connecting Japanese buyers with Vietnamese food suppliers.
3. Buyer's Consolidation Services: Consolidating cargo from multiple suppliers into single shipments to optimize transportation costs for food and beverage importers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Flying Fish is an international multimodal transportation company providing freight forwarding services including ocean FCL/LCL shipments, air freight, customs clearance, inland transport, packaging, and temperature-controlled cold chain logistics, with specialization in food and beverage imports between Europe (Italy, France, Belgium) and Japan, and between Vietnam and Japan. The company's flagship offering is BORDERLESS 2.0, a proprietary AI-powered cargo tracking portal providing real-time visibility, ETA predictions, and delay risk alerts.

Product overview

Flying Fish is an international logistics company offering a unified portfolio of freight forwarding and transportation services. The core product is BORDERLESS 2.0, a proprietary customer portal for cargo tracing with AI-powered ETA predictions and transport analytics. This platform supports the company's two main service lines: European Transport Services (Forwarder/NVOCC specializing in food/beverage imports from Europe, particularly Italy, France, and Belgium) and Vietnam Transport Services (forwarding and consulting for cold chain logistics from Vietnam). The company also offers Buyer's Consolidation services for combining shipments from multiple suppliers, and temperature-controlled (cold chain) transport capabilities. The service offering is structured as a platform (BORDERLESS 2.0) plus transport/forwarding service modules rather than separate software products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• BORDERLESS 2.0 Proprietary AI-powered customer portal that provides real-time cargo tracking for international ocean freight, AI-enhanced ETA predictions, route visualization, delay risk detection, transport efficiency reports (Orders, T/T, T/S), and document downloads. Available free of charge for cargo booked through Flying Fish.
• European Transport Services (NVOCC) Forwarder/NVOCC services specializing in Europe-to-Japan food and beverage transportation. Provides safe, reliable transportation of wine, processed foods, and other products while maintaining quality, leveraging networks across Italy, France, Belgium, and other European countries.
• Vietnam Transport Services Forwarder and consulting services for Vietnam-related logistics, including cold chain management, procurement assistance, and temperature-controlled transport. Connects local Vietnamese suppliers and markets with Japan through door-to-door logistics solutions, supported by the local subsidiary Flying Fish Vietnam Co., Ltd. established December 2024 in Ho Chi Minh City.
• Cold Chain Logistics Temperature-controlled transport services for chilled and frozen food products maintaining product quality from origin to destination. Utilizes bonded cold storage facilities and provides integrated management spanning customs clearance, storage, and delivery.
• Buyer's Consolidation Service Service that consolidates cargo from multiple suppliers into single shipments, optimizing transportation costs while coordinating delivery schedules. Particularly used for European wine and food imports combining shipments from multiple suppliers/wineries.

Quantifiable outcome

• AI-powered BORDERLESS 2.0 provides highly reliable ETA information enhanced by AI analysis
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Expeditors International: Global US-headquartered freight forwarder offering air and ocean forwarding across major trade lanes. Comparable to Flying Fish in core multimodal forwarding services, particularly across trans-Pacific and Europe-Asia lanes, but operates as a broad incumbent rather than a F&B specialist.
• Kintetsu World Express (now Kintetsu Express): Japan-headquartered global forwarder offering international airfreight, ocean freight, and logistics services. Comparable to Flying Fish as a Japanese forwarder with multimodal international capabilities, but operates at significantly larger scale across many verticals and geographies.
• Kuehne+Nagel: One of the world's largest freight forwarders, with strong perishables and cold-chain expertise (KN FreshChain) serving global F&B customers. Highly comparable to Flying Fish in the F&B/cold chain niche, but at global scale with much broader lane coverage and customer base.
• Yusen Logistics: Major Japanese-origin global logistics provider offering international freight forwarding, contract logistics, and supply chain management. Comparable to Flying Fish in serving Japanese importers with multimodal international transport, particularly across Asia and Europe, but with much broader service portfolio and global footprint.
• Nippon Express Holdings: Japan's largest integrated logistics company, offering international freight forwarding, warehousing, and supply chain solutions across all major trade lanes. Comparable to Flying Fish as a Japanese-headquartered forwarder serving F&B and general cargo importers, but operates at vastly greater scale with global coverage.
• Senko Group Holdings: Japanese logistics conglomerate offering freight forwarding, warehousing, and distribution services. Comparable to Flying Fish as a Japan-based forwarder serving import flows, though Senko operates across many industry verticals and has a much larger domestic footprint.
• DSV (DSV A/S): Global freight forwarder and logistics provider with strong air, sea, and road forwarding capabilities across all major regions. Comparable to Flying Fish as an international multimodal forwarder, though DSV operates at far greater scale and across a much wider customer/industry base.

Regional players

• Mainfreight: New Zealand-headquartered mid-size global forwarder with air, ocean, and warehousing operations across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Comparable to Flying Fish as a mid-size specialist forwarder pursuing international expansion, but anchored in a different home geography (Oceania) and serving broader verticals.

Emerging players

• Flexport: Tech-enabled digital freight forwarder offering AI-driven ocean, air, and trucking services with proprietary visibility platform. Comparable to Flying Fish in combining forwarder services with proprietary tracking/analytics technology, though Flexport targets much broader lanes and customer segments rather than F&B specialty.

Direct peers

• Nissin Corporation: Japan-headquartered mid-size freight forwarder with strong Asia trade lane presence and temperature-controlled/cold chain capabilities. Closely comparable to Flying Fish in scale, F&B specialization, and reliance on Japanese importer customers across Asia trade corridors.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Flying Fish