Malaysia will make use of the new Cainiao centre to establish itself as an air cargo hub

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

After Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's logistics subsidiary, Cainiao, launched an air freight centre at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia seeks to establish itself as an Asia Pacific air cargo hub (KLIA).

The Cainiao Aeropolis eWTP (electronic World Trade Platform) has been in operation for a year, but it only opened to the public on Monday.

With rising e-commerce sales in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic, Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB) plans to quadruple air freight volumes to 1.3 million tonnes by 2030.

 

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Because of its location within the free commercial zone, Iskandar Mizal Mahmood believes the Cainiao centre would be a game-changer for Malaysian e-commerce logistics.

Dr. Wee Ka Siong, the Transport Minister, stated that MAHB and Alibaba were dedicated to creating the world's first electronic global trading platform outside of China.
"It symbolises strong ties between Malaysia and China," he remarked.

“This collaboration will significantly increase cargo volume at KLIA and strengthen the country's cargo and logistics ecosystem, which spans air, sea, and land connectivity,” says the statement.

 

"The whole logistics value chain, which includes cargo airlines, cargo port operators, freight forwarders, and last-mile delivery service providers, will profit."

The Cainiao centre is a 24.3-hectare site within the airport that comprises a 100,000-square-meter warehouse for cargo terminal operations, warehousing, and sorting, as well as a digital customs clearance technology that reduces clearance time from 24-48 hours to just over an hour and a half.

As Cainiao tries to enhance trade flows in Southeast Asia, this allows for 24-hour and 72-hour deliveries within Malaysia and the rest of the world, respectively.

 

"The introduction of e-commerce in recent years has proven to be a boon to air cargo growth as it is the single largest catalytic driver," Dr Wee said, adding that Malaysia's freight and logistics business was worth $37.6 billion last year and was forecast to top $55 billion by 2026.

Wan Lin, Cainiao's CEO, said the company wanted to help small and medium businesses by providing "an effective and all-round global logistics network."
"We have developed a global network of smart logistics hubs, starting here in Malaysia under the eWTP programme, together with our partners," he added.