Teleport has set its sight on becoming the leading air logistics company in Southeast Asia, building on AirAsia’s extensive bellyhold network and additional investments to boost its cross-border delivery capabilities in the region.

The logistics venture under Capital A (formerly AirAsia Group) recently announced it raised new growth capital of US$50 million from large institutional credit investors to extend its cross-border delivery capabilities in all key Southeast Asian markets.

Teleport will use the fund to build critical hubs in Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia and further invest in technology to boost its target 24-hour delivery across Southeast Asia.

Pete Chareonwongsak, Teleport’s chief executive, told Asia Cargo News that part of the raised capital would also be used to purchase additional freighters that would create a “unique combined network” with AirAsia’s passenger planes. He noted that key to Teleport’s leadership in the next three years is the extension of the company’s network coverage by air with the introduction of Airbus A321 freighters.

“We plan to add three A321 Freighters, with the first one arriving in mid-2023,” Chareonwongsak said, adding that this would allow the company to easily connect manufacturers, exporters and ecommerce directly to any Southeast Asian market.

The three A321 Freighters would increase Teleport’s cargo-only fleet to four freighters in total, in addition to bellyhold space in more than 200 AirAsia passenger aircraft.

“These narrowbody freighters, operated by AirAsia for Teleport, will enable containerized loading in both the main and lower decks, allowing us for the first time to consolidate cargo and ecommerce on dense trunk routes to be distributed quickly anywhere in Southeast Asia through the reach of the belly network.”

Teleport already offers international next-day delivery through its Teleport Pink service, but the additional freighters would also boost the company’s goal to guarantee next-day delivery in the region at a “cost anyone can afford.”

“The core of Teleport’s 24-hour delivery capability is already in place by choosing to build our delivery service on top of an extensive AirAsia passenger belly network,” Chareonwongsak said.

“With the addition of incoming freighters, we will control speed and reliability of small package movements in Southeast Asia better than anyone else,” he told Asia Cargo News, adding that the largest ecommerce marketplaces in the region now use Teleport’s infrastructure for B2B transport involving trucking, documentation and mid-mile that delivers same day clearance.

Aside from ecommerce, Teleport also offers a range of specialized cargo services, including charter services and the movement of pharma and fresh products by air, with dedicated on-ground handling and adherence to IATA's Temperature Control Regulations.

Chareonwongsak noted that Teleport is also certified to carry dangerous goods throughout its network, and it uses a single air waybill across any airline in its network to ensure seamless end-to-end connectivity and transparency for goods moving with Teleport.

With the goal of becoming the leading air logistics company in Southeast Asia, Teleport is working to boost both its market share in the region and the volume of tonnage it handles.

The company noted that in 2022, Teleport has quadrupled its intra-Southeast Asia market share in terms of cargo volume from 2% in 2021 to 9% as of the third quarter of 2022 and grew its ecommerce business by six times year-on-year.

The logistics venture of Capital A is also currently serving three of the largest online marketplaces in Southeast Asia, namely Shopee, Lazada and Zalora.

“Two outcomes for us are very important this year. Firstly, we want to be a market leader in moving cargo within Southeast Asia. This means our market share by tonnage moved needs to exceed 15% by the fourth quarter of 2023,” Chareonwongsak said.

“Secondly, to be the market leader in enabling cross-border ecommerce by air means we have to deliver at least 150,000 packages per day by the end of 2023. We are focused on delivering both goals in 2023,” he told Asia Cargo News.

Teleport is aiming to beat persisting market challenges by already positioning itself as a major air logistics provider in Southeast Asia.

“The best way to prepare for a challenging industry outlook is to use this opportunity to reach market leadership in 2023,” Chareonwongsak told Asia Cargo News.

“Three things play in our favour: One, AirAsia will have its entire fleet flying by the end of 2023, allowing the company to benefit from its network advantage for the first time since prior to the pandemic. Two, China’s earlier-than-expected reopening is expected to stimulate trade and cross-border ecommerce movement regionally,” he added.

The Teleport chief also noted that since the company’s model is “profitable,” Teleport can implement an “aggressive” growth strategy without worrying too much about reducing various cost structures and burn rates.

As part of its expansion plans in Southeast Asia, Chareonwongsak said Teleport is open to growing organically and looking at possible acquisitions.

“Teleport’s master plan was to consolidate AirAsia’s total belly space under one network, use that to fund expansion into ecommerce deliveries which would fill up even more belly space, and use those incremental volumes to add freighters and third-party airlines to extend our network advantage so that we can send things to anyone faster and more efficiently than anyone else in Southeast Asia,” he told Asia Cargo News.

“[On acquisition plans], we are always engaged in conversations on acquisitions that help us ‘Teleport It’ faster,” Chareonwongsak added.

“We are always on the lookout for better ways to build a durable air logistics franchise and are also quite comfortable with being patient to build organically.