SINGAPORE – June 30, 2025

It started with a phone call between two competitors. One in Johor Bahru, the other in Singapore. They had both noticed the same trend—less freight, more costs, and clients expecting Amazon-level precision.

This week, their companies became one.

Axis Maritime Logistics and Tradelink Cargo, both regional operators for over a decade, merged in a deal that raised few headlines but spoke volumes about what’s happening to mid-sized logistics firms worldwide.

“We weren’t sinking, but we weren’t moving forward either,” explains Irene Koh, now co-CEO of the newly formed Axis Tradelink. “We realized that surviving separately might be possible, but thriving alone wasn’t.”

A Survival Playbook in the Making

In the logistics world, size matters—but being “too small to scale” is now a common risk. Fuel volatility, tightening delivery windows, and tech expectations have hit firms that sit between local specialists and global giants.

“Customers ask for integrated dashboards, predictive tracking, and flexible routing,” says Leo Tan, a logistics consultant based in Manila. “If you can’t deliver all three, they move on.”

This new wave of mergers isn’t driven by acquisition frenzy. It’s often about shared pain and shared goals. Unlike 2021’s capital-fueled takeovers, today’s alliances tend to be low-key, structured, and focused on operations, not headlines.

What Comes Next

Private investors are starting to circle, but cautiously. Many of these regional firms are still family-run, with legacy systems that don’t scale easily. The real value lies in their customer base and local expertise, not in flashy tech.

In a sector that talks about automation and AI, it’s the human calls—like the one that started this merger—that still move things forward.

“We were rivals last year,” Koh adds with a smile. “Now we’re betting on each other.”

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