Cainiao Network (Cainiao), the logistics arm of Alibaba Group, said it launched a direct air freight from China to East Malaysia to enhance e-commerce firm, Lazada’s, cross-border logistics.

Operated three times weekly, the direct flights to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, and Kuching, Sarawak, will reduce logistics cost by over 50% for Sabah and Sarawak customers, and shorten average delivery time by two days, from 14 to 12 days or as fast as seven days, Cainiao said.

The move was to made to enhance delivery efficiency and stability amid growing consumer demand. 

Traditionally, shipping to East Malaysia such as Sabah and Sarawak entails multiple modes of transportations comprising international freight to Malaysia’s airport in Kuala Lumpur, domestic flight to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, or Kuching, Sarawak, followed by last mile courier delivery to consumers’ doorsteps.

Cainiao said currently, pandemic and movement control order (MCO) restrictions on international and domestic commercial and cargo flights have further lengthened delivery time and exacerbated delivery challenges. 

To instill greater long-term shipping stability, Cainiao and Lazada has been working together to establish a comprehensive cross-border logistics network in Malaysia.

With the logistics value chain, it said customers in Malaysia can now gain access to a wider array of global products from countries such as China, South Korea and Japan. 

“Industry data revealed that Malaysia’s e-commerce is set to more than double from US$6 billion to US$13 billion from 2020 to 2025, with 61% of cross-border e-commerce purchases from China,” said Shawn Louis, executive general manager for Cainiao and Chief LazGlobal Logistics Officer, noting the growing consumer demand and increased e-tailer competition.

“In our efforts to further streamline logistics value chain and deliver a more efficient and seamless shipping service to end consumers, we have launched a direct air freight route to East Malaysia, effectively removing domestic air freight and ground transfers. This logistics upgrade will benefit consumers in East Malaysia as they can now enjoy the same delivery timeliness and shipping cost as those in West Malaysia,” he added.

This announcement comes after the commencement of operation of the Cainiao Aeropolis eWTP Hub, an e-fulfillment hub located at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), in November 2020.

The move aims to shape Malaysia into a major regional player for e-commerce distribution and a leading airfreight gateway in ASEAN. The first customer to leverage the hub’s facilities was Lazada. 

Singapore-headquartered Lazada is an e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and has been the Southeast Asia flagship platform of Alibaba Group since 2016. The company, which has operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.