The rapid growth of e-commerce flows across borders has prompted some players to add intercontinental offerings to their portfolio in anticipation of a surge in e-commerce traffic extending further afield.

In early April Hong Kong-based logistics and e-fulfillment provider Tigers Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement with Pos Malaysia, the national postal provider, for e-commerce moving into Malaysia. The arrangement makes Pos Malaysia the service provider on the final mile, utilizing its same day and express services.

At first glance this may appear to be an arrangement for flows within the Asia-Pacific region, notably Southeast Asia, but Tigers’ home base belies a global reach. In the main it caters to merchants who want to market and sell their products to major international markets without having to bury their brand identity on the website of a large regional e-commerce platform like Alibaba. In March Tigers launched eShop, a digital marketplace that combines the functions of an online sales platform with marketing and supply chain management, from order fulfillment to returns. It is a vehicle for international merchants to sell to consumers in China, with marketing provided through an agreement with Chinese online platform WeChat.

Tigers, which has 65 offices and 32 omni-distribution hubs across China, the US, Australia and several countries in Asia and Europe, intends to spread the eShop model to the US, Australia, India, South Africa and a number of European countries, according to CEO Andrew Jillings.

He confirmed that the firm’s latest move in Malaysia addresses a global shipper audience. The cooperation agreement enables Tigers to offer its global customers these services using the Pos facilities at Kuala Lumpur, he said. “This facility offers a cost-effective solution for e-tailers wanting to be represented in the world’s largest e-commerce market, Asia Pacific.”

Meanwhile, Kuehne + Nagel has moved to cement its position in the management of e-commerce flows from China to consumers around the world. The logistics giant has signed an MoU with Alibaba to offer shippers in China more e-commerce logistics solutions.

The agreement builds on the pair’s existing relationship, under which K+N provides instant price quotes, booking of pick-ups and delivery services at destination for air freight consignments by putting the digital KN FreightNet tool on Alibaba.com. The logistics firm also offers LCL services under an extension of the original contract.

The new agreement aims to spread this partnership further to cover all modes of transportation as well as contract logistics outside China. This should comprise air, sea, rail and overland modes, according to K+N.

“The establishment of this relationship is in line with our global strategy to digitalize logistics services in order to meet the evolving needs of customers today,” said Siew Loong Wong, president, North Asia for the logistics firm. “We look forward to further developing this cooperation by expanding the scope of our e-commerce logistics offering to Alibaba customers in the future.”

The battle for e-commerce flows from China to other parts of the world is growing in intensity. According to one report, Amazon has indicated plans to offer sellers based in China transportation by air to global customers. Armed with a forwarding licence in China obtained last year, it has been offering sea freight service to Chinese customers that are routed over its US warehouses. Lately it has reportedly signalled ambitions to expand its service to this clientele to air freight.

The e-commerce giant has not commented on the issue, leaving the market to speculate if this will be a forwarding service using capacity on commercial carriers or if Amazon intends to fly its own freighters to China.

By Ian Putzger

Air Freight Correspondent | Toronto