Xinhua Silk Road: China's smart logistics company BEST Inc. speeds up Southeast Asia network construction

Alibaba-backed smart supply chain and logistics solutions provider BEST Inc. has figured out a way to cope with the "new normal" after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and accelerated its pace of building business network in Southeast Asia.

Xinhua Silk Road: China's smart logistics company BEST Inc. speeds up Southeast Asia network construction

"The major change is that transport capacity has been retained compared to before the pandemic," said Jason Qian, deputy general manager of BEST Global and General Manager of BEST Southeast Asia.

"There were plenty of passenger planes and road traffic was smooth, but cross-border transportation has become a great challenge after the outbreak," Qian said. On the other side, the demand for express delivery has increased during the epidemic, and the reduction of international capacity has brought pressure and challenges to cross-border logistics.

In January 2019, BEST launched express business covering the whole territory of Thailand, successfully bringing the group's franchising mode it developed in China to Thailand. By the end of March 2020, the group has achieved 100 percent coverage in Thailand.

Along with its rapid growth in Thailand, BEST also entered the Vietnamese market in October and started express delivery services in Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia since early July.

With regards to future planning in Thailand and the whole Southeast Asia, Qian said in the short term, the company will strive for a rapid growth and full coverage in Southeast Asia, and introduce technology and operation experience to improve logistics service in the region at the same time.

"In the long run, we will enhance localization of talents, services and some other factors, provide comprehensive supply chain services and improve smart logistics," Qian noted.

The company also plans to launch operation in Indonesia and the Philippines in the near future and create a large integrated network in Southeast Asia.

In recent years, infrastructure construction of Southeast Asian countries has been constantly improved and the e-commerce market has been developing rapidly. Against the backdrop, BEST continues to make efforts to establish express delivery networks in major Southeast Asian countries.

In the meantime, BEST has actively explored the construction of cross-border logistics routes between China and Southeast Asia and has realized sea-land-air multimodal transportation between China and the region, providing integrated cross-border logistics service for cross-border e-commerce clients.

(Contributed by Ren Qian; edited by Yang Qi with Xinhua Silk Road, kateqiyang@xinhua.org)