Chasen capitalises on emerging trends

Its 3PL segment receives a boost amid the pandemic as air cargo crunch fuels demand for cross-border land freight.

Nisha Ramchandani

Published Sun, Sep 13, 2020 · 09:50 PM

EVEN as Covid-19 fuels economic headwinds, Chasen Holdings is capitalising on emerging trends to drum up business for certain business segments.

Its third party logistics (3PL) segment, for instance, has seen a spike in revenue during the pandemic owing to the crunch in the air cargo market, which in turn has fuelled demand for cross-border land freight. The latter is cheaper than transporting cargo by air and faster than the sea route.

Passenger planes typically carry cargo in their bellyhold and the dearth of air travel has forced airlines to ground aircraft, taking a significant portion of capacity out of the market. This has also caused a spike in air freight rates.

With its regional subsidiaries, Chasen is able to transport freight by land from Singapore all the way up to China, and can charge a premium to account for the return trip. Chairman Eric Ng told The Business Times in an interview: "We've picked up business (that) previously we were not able to do, and there is mo…