KUALA LUMPUR: United Parcel Service (UPS), a global leader in logistics, is optimistic of the export growth in Malaysia and Southeast Asia on the back of a robust economic and trading environment within Asean, says its president for South Asia District Michelle Ho.
In the last quarter of 2018, the company saw an average export growth of 10 per cent, year-on-year, across Southeast Asia.
“We have made considerable progress in improving the transit time for shipments in and out of Asia, with many intra-Asia shipments being delivered the next day,” she told a press conference here yesterday on the company’s 2019 business strategy.
Ho said small and medium enterprises (SMEs) need to leverage on free trade agreements to market their products offshore.
“SMEs have to leverage on free trade agreements (FTA), know what is in the agreements that could actually benefit your industry, who you are trading with because more often than not this is overlooked and have the knowledge that will actually help you to navigate your business strategy.
“Supply chain management is also crucial for them to avoid late delivery or high cost and even lost business. In order to do this, you need to pick the right logistic partner so that they can concentrate on their core business,” she added.
Meanwhile, UPS Singapore and Malaysia managing director Lim Tze Hsien said UPS focused on three segments in Malaysia namely high technology, industrial manufacturing and e-commerce.
He added that Malaysia was experiencing an evolution as SMEs, manufacturing and e-commerce took a more central role in driving growth.
The logistics company announced that it had implemented a raft of service and capacity enhancements in Malaysia to boost the country’s cross-border e-commerce.
The initiatives included faster delivery and extended pick-up times for export shipments from Malacca to Europe and within Asia Pacific, and from Kuantan to the United States (US), Europe and the Asia Pacific region.
UPS also offered speedier receipt of import shipments from the US, Europe and Asia Pacific region to businesses located in the Klang Valley, Southern Kuala Lumpur and Malacca.
It had also expanded, by 70 per cent, its retail access points which resulted in almost 180 such outlets being set up across 43 towns in Peninsular Malaysia.
The company currently had 360 employees in Malaysia. — Bernama