By plane or raft, parcel delivery startups going places in South-east Asia
Singapore
IT MAY seem unusual for a delivery upstart to launch its own cargo aircraft. But in the cut-throat game of e-commerce logistics, such big moves could be increasingly par for the course in South-east Asia.
Last month, six-year-old Indonesian courier J&T Express added to its fleet a Boeing 737-300 aircraft to deliver cargo and enable next-day delivery. The company has a fleet of over 2,500 vehicles in Indonesia, and is said to be weighing a US initial public offering that could raise over US$1 billion.
Robin Lo, chief executive of J&T Indonesia, said that he is "not able to disclose specific investment figures" on the aircraft, but added that the freighter service will be operated by Trigana Air, on behalf of J&T.
The plane will serve the Jakarta-Medan and Jakarta-Batam-Tanjung Pinang cargo routes, with at least two flights a day.
J&T's move is one sign of how third-party logistics (3PL) startups serving South-east Asia's e-commerce sector are in aggressive growth mode.
Not to be outdone, Singapore-headquartered Ninja Van has also been expanding aggressively since the Covid-19 outbreak.
It now employes some 34,000 individuals in both office and operations teams, growing by almost 10 per cent year-on-year, said chief executive Lai Chang Wen.
In the past year, the company has tripled the number of parcels delivered, and expanded its regional sorting stations and hubs by 70 per cent.
Its network of pick-up and drop-off points has expanded 2.5 times to over almost 5,500 locations across South-east Asia, including retail points and parcel lockers.
The heavy infrastructure investment comes as 3PLs face a fragmented last-mile landscape. In Indonesia for instance, Ninja Van taps a mix of land, sea and air transport to get last-mile delivery covered.
In some cases, its couriers have even had to use solutions such as makeshift rafts, under flood conditions in East Malaysia last year.
"Infrastructure in some of the South-east Asian markets may not be as well-established as others, so it remains a challenge for us to ensure that we are able to provide consistent, reliable delivery service across our entire network," said Mr Lai.
Victor Putra Lesmana of Indonesian e-commerce firm Bukalapak reckons that the landscape here will keep evolving.
"In South-east Asia, last-mile logistics will continue to innovate, enabling customers to choose the different deliveries' timing, multiple pick-up points, method of delivery and payment options," said Mr Lesmana, who is president of the company's BukaFinancial and digital units.
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