Navia and TCI International Launch TCI Navia

At a Glance

Two of the Sino-Australian and Sino-American freight market’s most established independent operators have formalised a decade-long partnership, launching TCI Navia, a joint venture combining Navia’s technology-led freight platform with TCI International’s China-wide operational network.

The new joint venture will cover a team of over 100 staff across Shanghai, Shenzhen, Ningbo, Xiamen and Hong Kong and provide ocean freight, air freight, third-party logistics and customs brokerage services.

The two businesses have had a relationship for over 10 years, with their partnership progressing rapidly over the last five years. This, combined with Navia’s proprietary technology stack, which allows customers to track items at the SKU level, provides real-time KPI reporting and a command-layer system that highlights exceptions early in the supply chain, made the joint venture a natural next step.

The Partnership

Ten years in the making

Navia Group CEO Simon Borg says: “Navia is an emerging global player, and on paper we have the volumes to stand up our own China operation. But the reality is that TCI China has been handling our freight for years, and the philosophies of our two businesses are remarkably aligned: the same obsession with customer care, the same flat structure, the same willingness to solve the hard problems rather than pass them on. Going it alone would have meant rebuilding something we already have. Formalising the partnership lets us spin up a team at scale on day one, with people we’ve trusted for the better part of a decade, and the transition is seamless for our customers because nothing about the service they already rely on changes, it just gets better.”

Ricky Shon, Managing Director of TCI China, adds: “We have worked with the team at Navia for a long time now, and the working relationship has been great. Our customers really love the NaviaHub platform, and the teams of both companies are true experts.”

What Changes for Customers

One team, one platform, origin to destination

Simon Borg says: “The biggest shift for customers is that their entire supply chain, origin through destination, now sits on one platform. NaviaHub already gives our customers SKU-level visibility, live KPI reporting and exception management at the destination end; through the JV, that same visibility now extends right back into the China origin leg, where historically there’s been the least transparency in the industry. Onboarding is measured in days, not months, because we integrate directly with customers’ ERPs via API. And because it’s one ecosystem, not two vendors stitched together, customers get a single team accountable for the full lifecycle of their freight, not a handoff between a forwarder and an origin agent where things fall through the cracks.”

Ricky Shon adds: “Customers are already benefitting from the partnership, as our working relationship between the two businesses is so close. But in addition to great service and exceptional technology, TCI Navia will morph from two strong mid-market players into an enterprise entity capable of taking on the freight conglomerates of the world while still providing the level of care that only an independent can give.”

Trade Environment

Reading disruption earlier

Simon Borg says: “Trade patterns are shifting faster than most supply chains can adapt, tariffs move, routes close, sourcing bases relocate, and customers are increasingly asked to make commercial decisions with incomplete information. By bringing our two ecosystems onto one platform, we give customers full lifecycle visibility over every shipment, purchase order to final mile, and that visibility is the raw material for good decisions in a volatile environment. Shared intelligence across Navia’s network in Australia, the US, Malaysia and New Zealand and TCI’s footprint across China and the Far East means we can see disruption earlier, reroute faster, and give customers the data they need to make their own strategic calls.”

Ricky Shon adds: “Customers already had a great offering with TCI International and Navia working together as two independent entities. Now, as a joint business, the collaboration between the two is significantly amplified. The result means that our shared intelligence, expertise and technology provide a more powerful and equipped engine to help our customers navigate the disruption and uncertainty of the current world of trade.”

About the Partners