Seminar seeks ways to cut logistic costs
NAREERAT WIRIYAPONG
Thailand needs to build a deep-sea port and marine motorway on the west coast to cut logistics costs, former finance minister M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula said yesterday. M.R. Pridiyathorn, also a former central bank governor, said the so-called Western Gateway would complement the congested Laem Chabang port in the Eastern Seaboard.
The project would help save costs for exporting goods from Thailand to Europe and the Middle East, which are currently shipped from Laem Chabang, he said. Potential locations of the West Gateway were Ranong, Phangnga, and Krabi, M.R. Pridiyathorn said, adding that the project would also stimulate the long-delayed development of the Southern Seaboard.
''Now Thailand's logistics cost is higher than that of our rivals in Asia and we need to bring it down to make Thai goods more competitive in the global market,'' he told a logistics seminar held by the Board of Trade and the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
On the marine motorway, M.R. Pridiyathorn said the government should welcome participation from the private sector to offer services for moving goods on routes in the Gulf of Thailand such as Laem Chabang-Songkhla and Bangkok-Surat Thani.
Marine shipments now account for 12% of the overall transport usage in the kingdom, with 85% from road transport. The shares of rail and air transport were 2% and 0.9%, respectively.
The government should speed up the development of a dual-track rail system across the kingdom with a total length of 832 kilometres and connecting onward to mainland China.
The cabinet has planned to invest two trillion baht to build domestic train routes linking Thailand with China.
The International Freight Forwarders Association said Thailand's logistics costs as a share of GDP have soared to 23.9%, up from 19% in 2006, mainly because of high oil prices.
The latest figure contrasted with the 15-16% that the National Economic and Social Development Board had set as a goal for logistics costs, said the association's president, Suwit Ratanachinda.
''Thailand's logistics costs have been rising, even though we have tried to bring them down. The failure was mainly because the government has not done anything,'' Mr Suwit said.
The sharp increase in oil prices has pushed marine freight charges up by 30% over the past 12 months to $460 per tonne and they would rise to $535 next month, he said.
Thanet Sorat, the vice-president of V-Serve Group, a logistics service provider, said every 1% cut in logistics costs could reduce the overall cost of Thai-made products by 5% to 8%.
Voratat Tantimongkolsuk of the Thai Airfreight Forwarders Association (TAFA) said that Thailand's utilisation of its two biggest airports had also not been optimised to improve logistics efficiency.
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