After almost three decades of lonely struggle and much to the chagrin of her hostile neighbours, Grandma Hai Khanjanta has finally won compensation from the state for the damage rendered to her farmland in Ubon Ratchathani from a poorly thought out irrigation dam project.
The Cabinet on Tuesday decided to award the 80-yearold woman - who in 2004 was named "the great fighter mum" by Mahidol University -1.2 million baht in compensation. Two other villagers affected by the project were also compensated.
The promised 1.2 million baht is a very modest amount and cannot be regarded as fair, given the hardships from deprivation of a normal livelihood which Mrs Hai's family has had to endure throughout the past several years since her farmland was flooded.Even though the land was reclaimed following the dam's demolition on the orders of the Thaksin administration, it remains useless for cultivation. Still, Mrs Hai had the grace and decency to offer her heartfelt thanks to the Democrat-led government for paying attention to the plight of poor people like herself. She said she would not press for further demands.
However, this "happy ending" story of Mrs Hai and her two neighbours represents just a fraction of many other similar cases of rural people being deprived of a livelihood, robbed of their traditional farmland or forced into hardship by so-called development projects which often were decided from the top down and implemented without prior consultation with the local communities.These include the villagers affected by the construction of the Rasi Salai dam in Si Sa Ket and the Pak Moon fishermen whose livelihood has been completely wrecked by the Pak Moon dam.
Negligence on the part of state agencies and their disregard for the public's right to participate in the decision-making process in the management of natural resources by the state, have been blamed for many of the top-down development projects which were later proven to have been badly thought-out, falling short of their objectives or simply not worthy of the cost. For example, the Rasi Salai dam which was supposed to irrigate the dry northeastern farmland, has instead caused widespread salination of the soil, on top of some 30,000 rai of wetlands being wiped out during construction, not to mention the human suffering of hundreds who are still demanding justice.
The case of Ms Usa Rotpongkasem, a victim of the Klong Toey chemical fire in 1991, is another glaring example of the lack of compassion from state agencies,in this particular case the Port Authority of Thailand,for the victims of its gross negligence and its lack of accountability. The former Ramkhamhaeng University student who is steadily losing her eyesight and is suffering from cancer as a result of her exposure to chemical posioning, had to take her case to the Civil Court to seek compensation from the PAT. It was through sheer tenacity and determination that she endured the lengthy legal hurdles and won the case, with the court faulting the PAT for gross negligence and ordering it to pay her about 4 million baht in compensation. The PAT wanted to appeal the verdict but dropped the idea only because of the personal intervention of then deputy transport minister Pracha Maleenont.
The plight of Grandma Hai, Ms Usa and many other poor villagers could have been avoided or considerably mitigated, if only the state agencies involved had been more receptive to their views before deciding on projects which seriously disrupted their livelihoods.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
AN ENTREPRENEUR OF ONE'S OWN LIFE
Po Chung, co-founder of DHL International Asia-Pacific, discusses his "entrepreneurial life journey" and describes the attributes of a successful entrepreneur, particularly during what he calls "the first 10 yards". The Nation's Pichaya Changsorn reports.
Even if you have never been a business manager, you are already the manager of your own life, says Po Chung, co-founder of DHL International Asia-Pacific, who now teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Hong Kong.
"Every one of us is the entrepreneur of our own life," he told a group of students on a recent visit to Bangkok. "Nobody has lived your life before; you're the first one. So, you can do anything. You can start-up. You can manage [a business to become] a good asset or you can be as poor as you can be, not only in a money sense but also in a spiritual sense."
Chung, who co-authored the book "The First 10 Yards: The Five Dynamics of Entrepreneurship", was lecturing to about 40 students from 13 European countries who took part in the Asian University's "Summer University" programme.
"Many people are very rich in money but very poor in spirit," he said.
"Since life is an entrepreneurial journey and you're the entrepreneur of your life, by understanding, designing, creating and managing your journey, you can control your future."
Giving his life as an example of an "entrepreneurial life-long journey", Chung said his early life was not so affluent because his father lost his businesses during the Communist "liberation war" and the family had to escape from China to Macau. He had to drop out of school and went fishing for two years because his father ran out of money when he was in the third grade.
Then life became better. Chung moved to Hong Kong and was eventually able to join a well-known boarding school, St Stephen's College, and later went to Hong Kong University. He was doing well until he overslept and missed a history examination. His father then sent him to study at the University of the Seven Seas, which was actually a ship that hosted teachers and students who had to sail around the world while studying.
However, Chung had to change his university again because his father wanted him to study science subjects, instead of history or geography. So he signed up for fisheries management at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.
Chung said that although he never practised fisheries management one day in his life. He was able to apply the knowledge he gained to his life's work.
"I stole shamelessly everything I knew about fisheries and used it in my businesses. I was able to make the 'cross over', and I've been stealing even since: when I talk with people, I asked them questions, [get them] to tell their ideas, and I convert [these] into my businesses."
The courier business was not his first job after graduation. He worked for Topper Toys, a toy manufacturer which he found gave little attention to its workers because "everything she had to do, she could learn in 15 minutes. So, if she didn't come to work, they could easily find someone to replace her.
"In courier services, you can't do that because the courier drives the truck and he's out for three hours. [And while he's out] he can decide either to smile or not to smile. It's not like in McDonald's, [where] everything is under one roof. If a staff member doesn't smile, his supervisor can see he doesn't smile. But if [the courier] doesn't smile, nobody at our company knows.
"So we have to make sure the courier is happy in his life when he walks into a customer's reception area. He has to remember the name of the lady at the reception desk, and pretty soon they will remember his name.
"We paid attention not only to how they were dressed, but made sure they were dating - I had to attend a lot of weddings," Chung said, with a grin.
The opportunity to launch the courier service came after two and a half years with Topper Toys. Chung had been promoted to operations manager, with responsibility for logistics and supply chain management. The skills and knowledge he gained from the toy firm readied him for the moment when Adrian Dalsey, a co-founder of DHL, flew to Hong Kong to offer Topper Toys a cutting-edge delivery service.
After only a few meetings, Chung succeeded in persuading Dalsey to fly back to his US headquarters and convince his partners to award Chung the rights to run DHL's business across the Asia-Pacific region. Chung began his entrepreneurial journey with DHL with US$50,000, only two customers, a secretary, no car and basically nothing else.
During DHL's first 15 years, from 1969-84, the firm expanded into 125 countries - or a new country every five weeks, on average. One of its key success factors was picking the right kind of employees.
"There was one formula in picking our people: we were hiring the kind of people we were willing to follow, others were willing to follow; others were willing to partner with."
Chung said DHL "scanned for viruses on the candidate's personal operating systems" such as their beliefs, values, behaviour, likes, dislikes, integrity and character.
"Basically, [it's about] who are you. Can people trust you? Are you unkind, unfair, shameless, corrupt, rude, a liar, unwise, disloyal, cowardly, a repeater of mistakes, or unforgiving? "
There was also another lesson: getting the right name is very important. Unlike some of its competitors, Chung said, DHL had an initial advantage because its name was easy to pronounce in any language.
"That's why, when I picked the names for my children, I made sure people could see them and were able to read them. Yet they are not common names."
Chung said entrepreneurs had to have a basic quality which he called a "sleep factor".
"Many people think about risk factors, and I admit risk taking is important. But you also have to be able to 'silo' your problems, [leaving yourself the capacity] to go to sleep, even when you get caught," he said, citing his own experience during an initial stage when he was arrested by the police for infringing the Hong Kong Post Office's exclusive right to carry letters in and out of the colony. DHL successfully defended the case.
"There are two things that business school cannot teach an entrepreneur: the first is focus, or 'staying with a problem until it gets done', and the other is passion. An entrepreneur must have enough of these two qualities," he said.
"We have also found that most business schools teach marketing, but do not teach selling. If you're an entrepreneur and you don't know how to sell, it won't work out, because you won't have money or anything else."
Also, Chung advised, don't take an MBA course.
"If you want to become an entrepreneur, don't study for an MBA. Do it [become an entrepreneur] first and come back to take an executive MBA later, because MBA [studies] fill you with all kinds of junk. It's wrong timing - like teaching you to drive when you're 60," he said.
"Me, Inc": Looking at life as a business
People regard as "business" only that part of life that involves money. But, in reality, everything is business, Chung said.
"Your life is business and you're the entrepreneur. You're in the business of providing personal services to anyone around you. You're your most important customer and supplier."
Chung suggested that his students write a "business plan" for their lives, taking into account the needs of their "customers" and "suppliers", who can be anyone from parents to offspring, siblings, friends, business partners or bosses, and all of their "suppliers".
"Consider what they want. Is it moral support, physical help, mental help, social help, advice, companionship, just being there...?"
He said the students' business plans should include a marketing plan for managing their "personal brand", which took into account their "service quality", as well as their tangible and intangible assets.
"The management team is you and your 'tribe', and the returns are 'psychic income' and 'emotional profit', he said.
Chung also urged students to give and take, while staying away from "net takers".
Ten pieces of advice, in hindsight
In concluding his lecture, Chung looked back on his years as an entrepreneur to offer 10 pieces of advice, in hindsight:
1. Spend time with your loved ones before they go away.
2. Follow my life's secret formula: understand, design, create and manage. Then you will control your future.
3. If you want to be an entrepreneur, don't get an MBA - get an EMBA.
4. Don't be in a hurry to get married, to either a spouse or a company. Ninety per cent of your misery or happiness will come from one person, so you want to know more about people in general before you select the one with whom you will spend the rest of your life.
5. Set up a life-long learning programme.
6. A bad break is not the end of the world.
7. Hustle while you wait: luck is when opportunity meets preparedness.
8. Leadership is about trust. Everything else comes second. People will follow you only if they know you will not hurt them.
9. If you don't want people to know about it, don't do it. Live by the golden rule: "don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal."
10. Live off your parents for as long as you can. Buy a house as a multigenerational effort. Property prices will continue to go up. You will need all the money you can make to do the things you would like to do in your life. There are three Fs for investors: friends, family and fools.
Even if you have never been a business manager, you are already the manager of your own life, says Po Chung, co-founder of DHL International Asia-Pacific, who now teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Hong Kong.
"Every one of us is the entrepreneur of our own life," he told a group of students on a recent visit to Bangkok. "Nobody has lived your life before; you're the first one. So, you can do anything. You can start-up. You can manage [a business to become] a good asset or you can be as poor as you can be, not only in a money sense but also in a spiritual sense."
Chung, who co-authored the book "The First 10 Yards: The Five Dynamics of Entrepreneurship", was lecturing to about 40 students from 13 European countries who took part in the Asian University's "Summer University" programme.
"Many people are very rich in money but very poor in spirit," he said.
"Since life is an entrepreneurial journey and you're the entrepreneur of your life, by understanding, designing, creating and managing your journey, you can control your future."
Giving his life as an example of an "entrepreneurial life-long journey", Chung said his early life was not so affluent because his father lost his businesses during the Communist "liberation war" and the family had to escape from China to Macau. He had to drop out of school and went fishing for two years because his father ran out of money when he was in the third grade.
Then life became better. Chung moved to Hong Kong and was eventually able to join a well-known boarding school, St Stephen's College, and later went to Hong Kong University. He was doing well until he overslept and missed a history examination. His father then sent him to study at the University of the Seven Seas, which was actually a ship that hosted teachers and students who had to sail around the world while studying.
However, Chung had to change his university again because his father wanted him to study science subjects, instead of history or geography. So he signed up for fisheries management at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.
Chung said that although he never practised fisheries management one day in his life. He was able to apply the knowledge he gained to his life's work.
"I stole shamelessly everything I knew about fisheries and used it in my businesses. I was able to make the 'cross over', and I've been stealing even since: when I talk with people, I asked them questions, [get them] to tell their ideas, and I convert [these] into my businesses."
The courier business was not his first job after graduation. He worked for Topper Toys, a toy manufacturer which he found gave little attention to its workers because "everything she had to do, she could learn in 15 minutes. So, if she didn't come to work, they could easily find someone to replace her.
"In courier services, you can't do that because the courier drives the truck and he's out for three hours. [And while he's out] he can decide either to smile or not to smile. It's not like in McDonald's, [where] everything is under one roof. If a staff member doesn't smile, his supervisor can see he doesn't smile. But if [the courier] doesn't smile, nobody at our company knows.
"So we have to make sure the courier is happy in his life when he walks into a customer's reception area. He has to remember the name of the lady at the reception desk, and pretty soon they will remember his name.
"We paid attention not only to how they were dressed, but made sure they were dating - I had to attend a lot of weddings," Chung said, with a grin.
The opportunity to launch the courier service came after two and a half years with Topper Toys. Chung had been promoted to operations manager, with responsibility for logistics and supply chain management. The skills and knowledge he gained from the toy firm readied him for the moment when Adrian Dalsey, a co-founder of DHL, flew to Hong Kong to offer Topper Toys a cutting-edge delivery service.
After only a few meetings, Chung succeeded in persuading Dalsey to fly back to his US headquarters and convince his partners to award Chung the rights to run DHL's business across the Asia-Pacific region. Chung began his entrepreneurial journey with DHL with US$50,000, only two customers, a secretary, no car and basically nothing else.
During DHL's first 15 years, from 1969-84, the firm expanded into 125 countries - or a new country every five weeks, on average. One of its key success factors was picking the right kind of employees.
"There was one formula in picking our people: we were hiring the kind of people we were willing to follow, others were willing to follow; others were willing to partner with."
Chung said DHL "scanned for viruses on the candidate's personal operating systems" such as their beliefs, values, behaviour, likes, dislikes, integrity and character.
"Basically, [it's about] who are you. Can people trust you? Are you unkind, unfair, shameless, corrupt, rude, a liar, unwise, disloyal, cowardly, a repeater of mistakes, or unforgiving? "
There was also another lesson: getting the right name is very important. Unlike some of its competitors, Chung said, DHL had an initial advantage because its name was easy to pronounce in any language.
"That's why, when I picked the names for my children, I made sure people could see them and were able to read them. Yet they are not common names."
Chung said entrepreneurs had to have a basic quality which he called a "sleep factor".
"Many people think about risk factors, and I admit risk taking is important. But you also have to be able to 'silo' your problems, [leaving yourself the capacity] to go to sleep, even when you get caught," he said, citing his own experience during an initial stage when he was arrested by the police for infringing the Hong Kong Post Office's exclusive right to carry letters in and out of the colony. DHL successfully defended the case.
"There are two things that business school cannot teach an entrepreneur: the first is focus, or 'staying with a problem until it gets done', and the other is passion. An entrepreneur must have enough of these two qualities," he said.
"We have also found that most business schools teach marketing, but do not teach selling. If you're an entrepreneur and you don't know how to sell, it won't work out, because you won't have money or anything else."
Also, Chung advised, don't take an MBA course.
"If you want to become an entrepreneur, don't study for an MBA. Do it [become an entrepreneur] first and come back to take an executive MBA later, because MBA [studies] fill you with all kinds of junk. It's wrong timing - like teaching you to drive when you're 60," he said.
"Me, Inc": Looking at life as a business
People regard as "business" only that part of life that involves money. But, in reality, everything is business, Chung said.
"Your life is business and you're the entrepreneur. You're in the business of providing personal services to anyone around you. You're your most important customer and supplier."
Chung suggested that his students write a "business plan" for their lives, taking into account the needs of their "customers" and "suppliers", who can be anyone from parents to offspring, siblings, friends, business partners or bosses, and all of their "suppliers".
"Consider what they want. Is it moral support, physical help, mental help, social help, advice, companionship, just being there...?"
He said the students' business plans should include a marketing plan for managing their "personal brand", which took into account their "service quality", as well as their tangible and intangible assets.
"The management team is you and your 'tribe', and the returns are 'psychic income' and 'emotional profit', he said.
Chung also urged students to give and take, while staying away from "net takers".
Ten pieces of advice, in hindsight
In concluding his lecture, Chung looked back on his years as an entrepreneur to offer 10 pieces of advice, in hindsight:
1. Spend time with your loved ones before they go away.
2. Follow my life's secret formula: understand, design, create and manage. Then you will control your future.
3. If you want to be an entrepreneur, don't get an MBA - get an EMBA.
4. Don't be in a hurry to get married, to either a spouse or a company. Ninety per cent of your misery or happiness will come from one person, so you want to know more about people in general before you select the one with whom you will spend the rest of your life.
5. Set up a life-long learning programme.
6. A bad break is not the end of the world.
7. Hustle while you wait: luck is when opportunity meets preparedness.
8. Leadership is about trust. Everything else comes second. People will follow you only if they know you will not hurt them.
9. If you don't want people to know about it, don't do it. Live by the golden rule: "don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal."
10. Live off your parents for as long as you can. Buy a house as a multigenerational effort. Property prices will continue to go up. You will need all the money you can make to do the things you would like to do in your life. There are three Fs for investors: friends, family and fools.
Researchers tap into RFID to cut costs
New technologies for real-time vehicle tracking will play a big role in lowering expensive logistics costs, improving transport management and the country's competitiveness, according to the National Innovation Agency (NIA).
Logistics costs as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in Thailand are as high as 19%, compared with 9.4% in the United States and single digits or low double digits in many other developed countries.
Given that Thailand relies on exports for more than 60% of its GDP, logistics costs are far too high, industry leaders have said for years.
The NIA has supported researchers pursuing innovations to reduce costs, a notable example being B-Move, which was a co-developed by Southeast Asia Technology Co and Burapha University's Logistics Department.
The system, is based on radio frequency identification (RFID) for tracking vehicles to monitor transport.
"The technology can not only be adapted to use in transport management in order to raise the efficiency of transport but also to lower transport costs and save time," said Supachai Lorlowhakarn,the NIA director.
It can also be used in public transport for managing bus schedules and routes.
A tag installed on each vehicle sends signals to RFID readers placed in telephone booths, which act as receivers.The information is then transferred to a control centre through an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line or ADSL, which sends data over copper telephone lines faster than a conventional voiceband modem can provide.
The NIA underwrote half of the project's cost of 3.12 million baht.
The agency has also supported the use of RFID in the shrimp industry to create a 3D barcode on packaging. It identifies the origin, quality and safety of the product from the duration of transport from the farm to the factory, to what kind of food is fed to the shrimp.This prevents farmers from using harmful substances, said Dr Supachai.
The project worth 5.96 million baht in total includes another technology called C-Move, a tracking system, developed by DX Innovation Co and partially funded by the NIA. It uses a global positioning system or GPS device to track vehicles that run across the country.
Unlike B-Move which targets product transport within the city, C-Move looks after larger networks, such as transport to and from different provinces. Although B-Move's RFID technology has a higher quality, it can be used in a limited space whereas GPS uses a satellite system that allows a wider scale of usage.
The two projects were commercialised two months ago.
On the distribution side, a bidding website acts as a matchmaking service by allowing customers to see the avail-ability of vehicles that can transport products from one place to another.
The current transport management system, which is not integrated into a network, means shippers cannot use the same vehicles for different products.
Continuous trips can lower energy costs by reducing the number of empty trips, which account for up to 46% of all trips for land transport of products.
Eighty-nine percent of all product transport in Thailand is by land, resulting in a total of 71.74 million trips per year.
Logistics costs as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in Thailand are as high as 19%, compared with 9.4% in the United States and single digits or low double digits in many other developed countries.
Given that Thailand relies on exports for more than 60% of its GDP, logistics costs are far too high, industry leaders have said for years.
The NIA has supported researchers pursuing innovations to reduce costs, a notable example being B-Move, which was a co-developed by Southeast Asia Technology Co and Burapha University's Logistics Department.
The system, is based on radio frequency identification (RFID) for tracking vehicles to monitor transport.
"The technology can not only be adapted to use in transport management in order to raise the efficiency of transport but also to lower transport costs and save time," said Supachai Lorlowhakarn,the NIA director.
It can also be used in public transport for managing bus schedules and routes.
A tag installed on each vehicle sends signals to RFID readers placed in telephone booths, which act as receivers.The information is then transferred to a control centre through an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line or ADSL, which sends data over copper telephone lines faster than a conventional voiceband modem can provide.
The NIA underwrote half of the project's cost of 3.12 million baht.
The agency has also supported the use of RFID in the shrimp industry to create a 3D barcode on packaging. It identifies the origin, quality and safety of the product from the duration of transport from the farm to the factory, to what kind of food is fed to the shrimp.This prevents farmers from using harmful substances, said Dr Supachai.
The project worth 5.96 million baht in total includes another technology called C-Move, a tracking system, developed by DX Innovation Co and partially funded by the NIA. It uses a global positioning system or GPS device to track vehicles that run across the country.
Unlike B-Move which targets product transport within the city, C-Move looks after larger networks, such as transport to and from different provinces. Although B-Move's RFID technology has a higher quality, it can be used in a limited space whereas GPS uses a satellite system that allows a wider scale of usage.
The two projects were commercialised two months ago.
On the distribution side, a bidding website acts as a matchmaking service by allowing customers to see the avail-ability of vehicles that can transport products from one place to another.
The current transport management system, which is not integrated into a network, means shippers cannot use the same vehicles for different products.
Continuous trips can lower energy costs by reducing the number of empty trips, which account for up to 46% of all trips for land transport of products.
Eighty-nine percent of all product transport in Thailand is by land, resulting in a total of 71.74 million trips per year.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
ECU LINE MARKS 10 YEARS IN THAILAND WITH NEW SERVICE
Ecu Line (Thailand) will expand its less-than-container-load (LCL) maritime cargo service to help exporters in the Amata City Industrial Estate and surrounding industrial parks save on logistics costs.
Managing director Viraj Nobnomtham said yesterday that the company had been offering its new service for two months.
It has rented the logistics centre of its partner, Japan-based Via Logistics, as its container freight station (CFS) for checking commercial cargoes before shipping.
It uses Via Logistics' vehicles to pick up shipments at its customers' factories and warehouse facilities and inspects them before trucking them to Bangkok Port or Laem Chabang Port.
"If we get enough volume, we'll use this platform for CFS expansion in other industrial estates," he said.
The new range of services was launched to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the company's operations in Thailand this year.
Ecu Line was started up in 1987 to serve forwarding industry customers based in Belgium and Europe.
Ecu Line Thailand is a 51:49 venture of local logistics firm Tripple-i Group and Ecu Line Group, which is majority-owned by India-based Allcargo Global Logistics.
Viraj said that after Ecu Line Thailand's parent was taken over by Allcargo Global Logistics, registered in Mumbai in 2006, the company has been forced to concentrate more on cash-flow management and human resources development.
"We are reporting our financial status quo more frequently than ever, with informative reports in depth as well as having to build any successor who can act as managing director or be promoted to managing director," he said
Ecu Line Thailand operates inbound LCL cargo services from Belgium's hub to Bangkok twice a week and outbound shipping from Bangkok to Belgium one trip a week.
Ecu Line's Thai unit posted 5-per-cent growth in LCL cargo services by sea, marking it as one of the top 10 performers of the Ecu-Line Group.
Ecu Line Group recorded a 20-per-cent drop year-on-year in sales and a 10-per-cent drop in cubic metres in the first seven months of this year.
This resulted from an effort to focus on markets with growth potential such as India and the Philippines as well as on developing new markets like Mexico.
"This could compensate for the loss of full container load (FCL) cargo services with an increase in LCL cargo services," he said.
The group's demand for shipping in Europe and the US shrank by 20 per cent in the first half of this year.
This quarter, sea freight volume has dipped [by only] 15 per cent on year due mainly to the resumption of orders from industry to replace depleted stocks.
"This was a better situation than the depressing first quarter," he said.
Sea freight activities next quarter should also be better, he said.
The company expects its LCL cargo business to grow by 5 per cent to a total of 1,200 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers this year.
Last year, Ecu Line recorded 100,000 20-foot equivalent unit (ETU) containers or 2.5 million cubic metres globally for LCL cargoes.
Ecu Line Group is the world's market leader in non-vessel operating common-carrier services, with more than 120 offices in over 60 countries. It is a specialist in consolidation and groupage services by sea, air and land in especially the LCL maritime freight business.
Managing director Viraj Nobnomtham said yesterday that the company had been offering its new service for two months.
It has rented the logistics centre of its partner, Japan-based Via Logistics, as its container freight station (CFS) for checking commercial cargoes before shipping.
It uses Via Logistics' vehicles to pick up shipments at its customers' factories and warehouse facilities and inspects them before trucking them to Bangkok Port or Laem Chabang Port.
"If we get enough volume, we'll use this platform for CFS expansion in other industrial estates," he said.
The new range of services was launched to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the company's operations in Thailand this year.
Ecu Line was started up in 1987 to serve forwarding industry customers based in Belgium and Europe.
Ecu Line Thailand is a 51:49 venture of local logistics firm Tripple-i Group and Ecu Line Group, which is majority-owned by India-based Allcargo Global Logistics.
Viraj said that after Ecu Line Thailand's parent was taken over by Allcargo Global Logistics, registered in Mumbai in 2006, the company has been forced to concentrate more on cash-flow management and human resources development.
"We are reporting our financial status quo more frequently than ever, with informative reports in depth as well as having to build any successor who can act as managing director or be promoted to managing director," he said
Ecu Line Thailand operates inbound LCL cargo services from Belgium's hub to Bangkok twice a week and outbound shipping from Bangkok to Belgium one trip a week.
Ecu Line's Thai unit posted 5-per-cent growth in LCL cargo services by sea, marking it as one of the top 10 performers of the Ecu-Line Group.
Ecu Line Group recorded a 20-per-cent drop year-on-year in sales and a 10-per-cent drop in cubic metres in the first seven months of this year.
This resulted from an effort to focus on markets with growth potential such as India and the Philippines as well as on developing new markets like Mexico.
"This could compensate for the loss of full container load (FCL) cargo services with an increase in LCL cargo services," he said.
The group's demand for shipping in Europe and the US shrank by 20 per cent in the first half of this year.
This quarter, sea freight volume has dipped [by only] 15 per cent on year due mainly to the resumption of orders from industry to replace depleted stocks.
"This was a better situation than the depressing first quarter," he said.
Sea freight activities next quarter should also be better, he said.
The company expects its LCL cargo business to grow by 5 per cent to a total of 1,200 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers this year.
Last year, Ecu Line recorded 100,000 20-foot equivalent unit (ETU) containers or 2.5 million cubic metres globally for LCL cargoes.
Ecu Line Group is the world's market leader in non-vessel operating common-carrier services, with more than 120 offices in over 60 countries. It is a specialist in consolidation and groupage services by sea, air and land in especially the LCL maritime freight business.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
DAMCO TO OFFER ONE-STOP SERVICE
Damco Thailand, which from now will provide total logistics solution services under a single brand - Damco - used as globally, expects its freight forwarding volumes to grow by 10 per cent from last year.
"The Damco name will support our goal to become one of the top international logistics firms that enable to offer one-stop logistics in Thailand in the next five years," said Kiattichai Pitpreecha, managing director Thailand for Damco Thailand.
The move is part of the integration of all operations between two international logistics providers, Maersh Logistics and Damco Kiattichai, that commenced on September 7.
The company's supply chain management activities previously were branded as Maersk Logistics while its forwarding activities was branded as Damco.
Damco Thailand managing director added that the Damco name would also give the two companies to build their own identity while remaining it as important part of the Denmark-based AP Moller-Maersk Group.
Not only will the integration with a single brand help customers reduce confusions, but also increase the company to provide a board range of services, said Kiattichai.
In customers' perception, Damco is renowned as a leading freight forwarder in especially to sea freight forwarding with strong alliance network of more than 20 shipping lines. However, Kiattichai said the integration would not undermine its strength of sea freight forwarding. Conversely, this should support its strength. For airfreight forwarding, it has strong partners of more than 10 airlines.
"We are also a market leader in supply chain management segment, in which there are only 6-7 key players," said he, adding that major clients are Nike, Reebok, Adidas and Wallmart.
"For freight forwarding business, we have been slightly affected from the global economic crisis as being shown in 2009's nine-month volumes that is still on track of 10 per cent growth target," said Kiattichai.
He said Damco has recorded an average of 20 per cent growth in freight forwarding business for five years.
In Thailand, Damco is one of the top international logistics companies for supply chain management and freight forwarding. It handles freight volumes of more than 1,200 containers a week and air cargo volume of 3.6 million kilos a year. The company's warehouse space is about 30,000 square metres.
The company provides services to more than 1,500 customers that are in retail, electrical goods, food, fast moving consumer goods, automotive, chemical and garment and footwear industries. It employs a total of 250 employees.
In 2008, Damco had a net turn-over of US$ 2.8 billion globally, shipped more than half a million TEUs ocean freight, air freighted over 60,000 tonnes, and handled over 50 million CBMs (equivalent to 2 million TEU) for our supply chain management customers.
"The Damco name will support our goal to become one of the top international logistics firms that enable to offer one-stop logistics in Thailand in the next five years," said Kiattichai Pitpreecha, managing director Thailand for Damco Thailand.
The move is part of the integration of all operations between two international logistics providers, Maersh Logistics and Damco Kiattichai, that commenced on September 7.
The company's supply chain management activities previously were branded as Maersk Logistics while its forwarding activities was branded as Damco.
Damco Thailand managing director added that the Damco name would also give the two companies to build their own identity while remaining it as important part of the Denmark-based AP Moller-Maersk Group.
Not only will the integration with a single brand help customers reduce confusions, but also increase the company to provide a board range of services, said Kiattichai.
In customers' perception, Damco is renowned as a leading freight forwarder in especially to sea freight forwarding with strong alliance network of more than 20 shipping lines. However, Kiattichai said the integration would not undermine its strength of sea freight forwarding. Conversely, this should support its strength. For airfreight forwarding, it has strong partners of more than 10 airlines.
"We are also a market leader in supply chain management segment, in which there are only 6-7 key players," said he, adding that major clients are Nike, Reebok, Adidas and Wallmart.
"For freight forwarding business, we have been slightly affected from the global economic crisis as being shown in 2009's nine-month volumes that is still on track of 10 per cent growth target," said Kiattichai.
He said Damco has recorded an average of 20 per cent growth in freight forwarding business for five years.
In Thailand, Damco is one of the top international logistics companies for supply chain management and freight forwarding. It handles freight volumes of more than 1,200 containers a week and air cargo volume of 3.6 million kilos a year. The company's warehouse space is about 30,000 square metres.
The company provides services to more than 1,500 customers that are in retail, electrical goods, food, fast moving consumer goods, automotive, chemical and garment and footwear industries. It employs a total of 250 employees.
In 2008, Damco had a net turn-over of US$ 2.8 billion globally, shipped more than half a million TEUs ocean freight, air freighted over 60,000 tonnes, and handled over 50 million CBMs (equivalent to 2 million TEU) for our supply chain management customers.
Maersk unit merges with Damco
A.P.-Moller-Maersk, the Danish shipping multinational, has merged two subsidiaries under the Damco brand to expand its customer base and increase revenue.
Maersk Logistics, a leader in supply chain management services, will now be part of a single business unit with its sister, Damco.
Damco is a leading global freightforwarding services arm of A.P. Moller.The integration of these companies under one brand will allow Damco to offer more integrated logistics services to both sets of brand-loyal customers and to reduce complexity.
"The integration will allow us to be a one-stop service provider for customers,whereas only a few players in the market can offer integrated service so far. It will also allow us to develop other logistics services to better respond to consumers'demand," said Kiattichai Pitpreecha,Damco Thailand's managing director.
The new entity combines Damco's freight forwarding services - which include ocean freight, sea freight, custom clearance and tracking - with Maersk's services, such as supply chain management, consultancy, warehouses and distribution. The brand integration took effect early this month.
Mr Kiattichai hopes the enlarged customer base from combining Damco's and Maersk's clients will boost local operations next year.
Together, Damco and Maersk have grown by an average of 20% a year in the past five years.
"Though market conditions are expected to shrink our growth to 10% this year, we hope 20% growth will resume next year partly from the integration,"he said.
Next year's growth forecast and an improved margin will be achieved if the global economy gains as much as many analysts have projected, he said.
Damco hopes its strong presence in the Asia-Pacific, considered an emerging market, will enable it to gain from the global recovery. However, a crude price surge would be a risk factor.
Damco forecasts a growth rate of only 10% this year from shrinking export markets affected by the global slump,said Mr Kiattichai.
"A smaller cake means fiercer competition and that has narrowed our margin by between 10% and 25%, depending on market size at each period of time.But we managed to maintain growth while other operators are recording contractions," he said.
Diversifying customer and industry base, increasing sales activities to promote brand awareness and maintaining good service to keep customers are the key to growth, said Mr Kiattichai.
The company also plans to improve its services in warehousing and distribution and expand freight forwarding.
"We want to be a market leader in these services as well as supply chain management," he said.
Maersk Logistics, a leader in supply chain management services, will now be part of a single business unit with its sister, Damco.
Damco is a leading global freightforwarding services arm of A.P. Moller.The integration of these companies under one brand will allow Damco to offer more integrated logistics services to both sets of brand-loyal customers and to reduce complexity.
"The integration will allow us to be a one-stop service provider for customers,whereas only a few players in the market can offer integrated service so far. It will also allow us to develop other logistics services to better respond to consumers'demand," said Kiattichai Pitpreecha,Damco Thailand's managing director.
The new entity combines Damco's freight forwarding services - which include ocean freight, sea freight, custom clearance and tracking - with Maersk's services, such as supply chain management, consultancy, warehouses and distribution. The brand integration took effect early this month.
Mr Kiattichai hopes the enlarged customer base from combining Damco's and Maersk's clients will boost local operations next year.
Together, Damco and Maersk have grown by an average of 20% a year in the past five years.
"Though market conditions are expected to shrink our growth to 10% this year, we hope 20% growth will resume next year partly from the integration,"he said.
Next year's growth forecast and an improved margin will be achieved if the global economy gains as much as many analysts have projected, he said.
Damco hopes its strong presence in the Asia-Pacific, considered an emerging market, will enable it to gain from the global recovery. However, a crude price surge would be a risk factor.
Damco forecasts a growth rate of only 10% this year from shrinking export markets affected by the global slump,said Mr Kiattichai.
"A smaller cake means fiercer competition and that has narrowed our margin by between 10% and 25%, depending on market size at each period of time.But we managed to maintain growth while other operators are recording contractions," he said.
Diversifying customer and industry base, increasing sales activities to promote brand awareness and maintaining good service to keep customers are the key to growth, said Mr Kiattichai.
The company also plans to improve its services in warehousing and distribution and expand freight forwarding.
"We want to be a market leader in these services as well as supply chain management," he said.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
"Thai-European Forum 2009" Thailand's first Thai-European business forum
"Thai Ministry of Commerce is to promote Thailand's potential as a leader in the food, logistics and alternative energy sectors by organizing the "Thai-European forum 2009" (TEF 2009), a business forum for Thai and European businesspersons, for the first time in Thailand on September 17-18, 2009 at Muang Thong Thani.
Porntiva Nakasai, minister of commerce,revealed that the Ministry is organizing the Thai-European Forum 2009 to boost and recover Thailand's export sector as quickly as possible. The European Union (EU) is a huge market consisting of 27-member states and is still in the process of adding new members. The European Commission expects that the European economy will fully recover by 2011. Today, Thailand's exports to the EU rank second.
"The Ministry of Commerce realizes the importance of this market,"said Porntiva. "We will add value to our trade and in vestment, encourage business representatives from Thailand and Europe to match and exchange their ideas, reinforce the confidence of investors, and boost the positive image of Thailand among overseas investors. The Thai-European Forum 2209 will serve these aims."
The event will be a business forum for Thailand and more than 20 European countries. It will be the first time for such a public private sector forum in Thailand that will foster consultation and exchange of ideas on issues of trade and investment. At the same time, it will act as a stage to promote Thailand's potential in food safety, as a logistics hub of ASEAN and as a place welcoming alternative energy investment. On September 18, several foreign academics and business entrepreneurs will deliver lectures, and representatives from EU regulations and how to approach the EU's new markets.
"We expect over 800 persons from the private sector, Thai entreprenerus, European business persons and academics of many countries in the EU and EFTA to join the event resulting in increased business negotiation between the two regions. Participants can gain knowledge and an understanding of the regulations in preparation forfurther business. It can also activate and increase the export volume from Thailand to Europe," Porntiva said.
The event will feature trade and investment exhinitions from 18 embassies, products and information from leading European companies, successful Thai-European ventrues, and products from the various regions of Thailand exported overseas under the strategic project, "Local to Global", to export domestic products from the Thai private sector.
Please reserve your seat at: www.thai-european.com or Tel. 02-933-0120 tollfree. See you on September 17-18, 2009 at Royal Jubilee Challenger, Impact Muang Thong Thani.
Ministry of Commerce www.moc.go.th
Porntiva Nakasai, minister of commerce,revealed that the Ministry is organizing the Thai-European Forum 2009 to boost and recover Thailand's export sector as quickly as possible. The European Union (EU) is a huge market consisting of 27-member states and is still in the process of adding new members. The European Commission expects that the European economy will fully recover by 2011. Today, Thailand's exports to the EU rank second.
"The Ministry of Commerce realizes the importance of this market,"said Porntiva. "We will add value to our trade and in vestment, encourage business representatives from Thailand and Europe to match and exchange their ideas, reinforce the confidence of investors, and boost the positive image of Thailand among overseas investors. The Thai-European Forum 2209 will serve these aims."
The event will be a business forum for Thailand and more than 20 European countries. It will be the first time for such a public private sector forum in Thailand that will foster consultation and exchange of ideas on issues of trade and investment. At the same time, it will act as a stage to promote Thailand's potential in food safety, as a logistics hub of ASEAN and as a place welcoming alternative energy investment. On September 18, several foreign academics and business entrepreneurs will deliver lectures, and representatives from EU regulations and how to approach the EU's new markets.
"We expect over 800 persons from the private sector, Thai entreprenerus, European business persons and academics of many countries in the EU and EFTA to join the event resulting in increased business negotiation between the two regions. Participants can gain knowledge and an understanding of the regulations in preparation forfurther business. It can also activate and increase the export volume from Thailand to Europe," Porntiva said.
The event will feature trade and investment exhinitions from 18 embassies, products and information from leading European companies, successful Thai-European ventrues, and products from the various regions of Thailand exported overseas under the strategic project, "Local to Global", to export domestic products from the Thai private sector.
Please reserve your seat at: www.thai-european.com or Tel. 02-933-0120 tollfree. See you on September 17-18, 2009 at Royal Jubilee Challenger, Impact Muang Thong Thani.
Ministry of Commerce www.moc.go.th
Sunday, September 13, 2009
CALL TO IMPROVE LOGISTICS SERVICES
Logistics service providers should improve their services and be ready to cash in as the world economy recovers, the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (Fiata) has urged.
William M Gottlieb, president of Fiata, said last week that while the world economy is slowly recovering, he wants logistics services providers to review and restructure their organisations as well as develop human resources.
He said they should not only be blaming external factors such as rules and regulations as a limitation, he added.
Speaking at the sixth Thailand International Logistics Fair 2009 symposium held by the Department of Export Promotion from September 9-13, Gottlieb said Asean is becoming more important to international trade and investments.
He expected the upcoming world Fiata forum, which will be held in Thailand in October, to bring participants from around the world to Thailand and turn the spotlight on the country.
Suriya Khumsuwan, logistics board member under The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said the most important factor in logistics service is manpower. If they are well trained, this would translate into cost benefits for companies.
Mark Millar, managing director of M Power Associates, said the world economy is shigting to Asia, where emerging economies like India and China are making strong progress. China is the fastest-growing economy. Which has significantly increased trade with Asean, including Thailand, since 2006.
Qingquan Jiang, vice president of Business and Management Department, Xiamen Xingcai Vocational College, said though total logistics value in China dropped 8 per cent for the year to September in 2008 and recorded a slow growth in 2009, total outsourcing expenses of logistics service providers in China since 2006 has been increasing. "China has become a major market for Asean exports," said Jiang, adding that trade between China and Asean is expected to grow 20 per cent annually as demand for growth was spurred by the government's economic stimulus measures.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot stated that amidst the world economic recession, logistics play an increasingly important role in the export industry.
All the speakers gave their speeches in separate panels and seminar dates.
William M Gottlieb, president of Fiata, said last week that while the world economy is slowly recovering, he wants logistics services providers to review and restructure their organisations as well as develop human resources.
He said they should not only be blaming external factors such as rules and regulations as a limitation, he added.
Speaking at the sixth Thailand International Logistics Fair 2009 symposium held by the Department of Export Promotion from September 9-13, Gottlieb said Asean is becoming more important to international trade and investments.
He expected the upcoming world Fiata forum, which will be held in Thailand in October, to bring participants from around the world to Thailand and turn the spotlight on the country.
Suriya Khumsuwan, logistics board member under The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said the most important factor in logistics service is manpower. If they are well trained, this would translate into cost benefits for companies.
Mark Millar, managing director of M Power Associates, said the world economy is shigting to Asia, where emerging economies like India and China are making strong progress. China is the fastest-growing economy. Which has significantly increased trade with Asean, including Thailand, since 2006.
Qingquan Jiang, vice president of Business and Management Department, Xiamen Xingcai Vocational College, said though total logistics value in China dropped 8 per cent for the year to September in 2008 and recorded a slow growth in 2009, total outsourcing expenses of logistics service providers in China since 2006 has been increasing. "China has become a major market for Asean exports," said Jiang, adding that trade between China and Asean is expected to grow 20 per cent annually as demand for growth was spurred by the government's economic stimulus measures.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot stated that amidst the world economic recession, logistics play an increasingly important role in the export industry.
All the speakers gave their speeches in separate panels and seminar dates.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
CP group's Ayutthaya port to help exporters slash transport costs
Exporters in the North and Northeast will be able to export their goods more easily and at lower cost thanks to CP Trading Group's inauguration of the Kingdom's first river port, linking inland industries through waterways.
Wholly owned by the company, Ayutthaya Port & ICD (inland container depot) will begin commercial operation next month. The Bt700-Bt800-million investment will have four cranes and other advanced facilities with total loading capacity reaching 450,000 twenty-foot-equivalent containers per year.
The company's second phase of investment of another Bt700 million will focus on establishing its depot on the 300 rai of land on the opposite site of the port at Nakhon Luang, Ayutthaya. The project will start construction next year.
The investment is aimed not only at facilitating the company's business transportation but also at creating public services and reducing air pollution. It will directly benefit to inland industries and farm crop exporters by connecting road with marine transportation through Laem Chabang Seaport.
Prasit Damrongchietanon, chief executive officer of the group, said that export by marine transportation will reduce cost by an average of 10-20 per cent.
Of the company's total loading capacity, 20-30 per cent is designed for its export and the remainder is set for public service. Ayutthaya Port & ICD's staff has already approached potential clients, including manufacturers in industrial estates not only in Ayutthaya but also nearby provinces.
It is expected that the loading will reach more than 20,000 containers in the first year.
"We've planned for our future to create related businesses with bigger scale operations through our consolidation strategy including manufacturers and buying agents," Prasit said, adding that the strategy would also encourage the group entering into the freight-forwarding business as well.
The river port will draw customers from the North and the Northeast to take their goods by road to Ayutthaya and transfer them to ships there.
Ships will reach Laem Chabang within 22 hours. Traditional barges take 48-52 hours to reach the seaport.
Prasit pointed that this port also set up reduce traffic problem of Lat Krabang ICD, which now handle a total of 1.6 million containers per year. In addition, demand for containers to serve the country's imports and exports grows by 600,000-700,000 containers per year.
The new river port and ICD will allow the company to connect all means of transportation: road, marine and rail freight.
Roads now carry 88-90 per cent of the Kingdom's goods, and marine shipments only 4-5 per cent. In addition, logistics costs account for 20 per cent of the country's gross domestic product compared with 12 per cent in developed countries.
Besides exporters and buying agents, the company has already proposed its business plan to major carriers, such as Hanjin, APL, "K" Line, Evergreen, Yang Ming and others.
"Having the services (river port and ICD) will encourage the government plan to promote Thailand as a regional trade hub and international distribution centre," said Prasit.
Prasit stressed that the group also looked forward to link transportation networks to the South of China, Burma and Laos.
Wholly owned by the company, Ayutthaya Port & ICD (inland container depot) will begin commercial operation next month. The Bt700-Bt800-million investment will have four cranes and other advanced facilities with total loading capacity reaching 450,000 twenty-foot-equivalent containers per year.
The company's second phase of investment of another Bt700 million will focus on establishing its depot on the 300 rai of land on the opposite site of the port at Nakhon Luang, Ayutthaya. The project will start construction next year.
The investment is aimed not only at facilitating the company's business transportation but also at creating public services and reducing air pollution. It will directly benefit to inland industries and farm crop exporters by connecting road with marine transportation through Laem Chabang Seaport.
Prasit Damrongchietanon, chief executive officer of the group, said that export by marine transportation will reduce cost by an average of 10-20 per cent.
Of the company's total loading capacity, 20-30 per cent is designed for its export and the remainder is set for public service. Ayutthaya Port & ICD's staff has already approached potential clients, including manufacturers in industrial estates not only in Ayutthaya but also nearby provinces.
It is expected that the loading will reach more than 20,000 containers in the first year.
"We've planned for our future to create related businesses with bigger scale operations through our consolidation strategy including manufacturers and buying agents," Prasit said, adding that the strategy would also encourage the group entering into the freight-forwarding business as well.
The river port will draw customers from the North and the Northeast to take their goods by road to Ayutthaya and transfer them to ships there.
Ships will reach Laem Chabang within 22 hours. Traditional barges take 48-52 hours to reach the seaport.
Prasit pointed that this port also set up reduce traffic problem of Lat Krabang ICD, which now handle a total of 1.6 million containers per year. In addition, demand for containers to serve the country's imports and exports grows by 600,000-700,000 containers per year.
The new river port and ICD will allow the company to connect all means of transportation: road, marine and rail freight.
Roads now carry 88-90 per cent of the Kingdom's goods, and marine shipments only 4-5 per cent. In addition, logistics costs account for 20 per cent of the country's gross domestic product compared with 12 per cent in developed countries.
Besides exporters and buying agents, the company has already proposed its business plan to major carriers, such as Hanjin, APL, "K" Line, Evergreen, Yang Ming and others.
"Having the services (river port and ICD) will encourage the government plan to promote Thailand as a regional trade hub and international distribution centre," said Prasit.
Prasit stressed that the group also looked forward to link transportation networks to the South of China, Burma and Laos.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Pity the lot of migrants wallowing in the ocean
Human beings adrift at sea are not toxic cargo. Since time immemorial, human instinct has been to save lives endangered at sea. Instead, today, on the assumption that boats in distress carry migrants and refugees, other ships pass them by, ignoring their pleas for help. Port authorities force them back to sea to certain hardship and peril if not death as though they were turning away ships laden with dangerous waste.
In the latest shameful incident last month,scores of migrants died of hunger and thirst while attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy. Reportedly, Maltese authorities had spotted their boat in distress.They provided food, water and fuel, as well as life vests, and alerted their Italian counterparts. The emaciated passengers were left to go on with their trip. Only five of them came through this ordeal and were finally rescued by the Italian Coast Guard.
The Maltese government maintains that its officials had complied with international agreements. But their actions fall woefully short of international human rights obligations and standards of conduct at sea.
In that very busy and heavily patrolled stretch of water between northern Africa and Italy, only one vessel stopped to provide sustenance to the shipwrecked.
Human rights advocates have again raised their voices in horror and protest, reminding governments and private concerns that the rescue of persons in distress at sea is not only an obligation under the international law of the sea, but also a humanitarian necessity, irrespective of the status of voyagers and the reasons for their voyage.
Human rights law is of paramount importance. First and foremost the right to life and security of persons must be upheld, for example, by providing food, water and all the necessary care and protection to those who desperately need such sustenance to survive. Specifically, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and recent amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea, as well as the Search and Rescue Conventions and the implementing guidelines issued by the International Maritime Organisation,anchor the rules of conduct expected and required at sea.
Government disregard of international duties represents only part of the problem.There is no doubt that ruthless people smugglers bear much of the blame for the thousands of deaths that occur each year in the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Aden, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and elsewhere.It is vital that flag states exercise effective jurisdiction and control over their vessels by ensuring strict compliance with safety standards set out in relevant international instruments so that unseaworthy ship and boats remain ashore. They must also prevent and prohibit smuggling and trafficking of migrants. Further, states inspecting vessels suspected of involvement in smuggling or trafficking must treat all persons on board humanely and in a dignified manner regardless of their status. Instead, overcrowded vessels and their passengers are sometimes endangered by the methods employed by governments and regional organisations to intercept and turn back boatloads of migrants and refugees.
There must be an unequivocal recognition that no persons, including asylum seekers and migrants, inhabit a human rights limbo while travelling or upon reaching a destination other than their country of origin.
A failure to protect migrants' human rights encourages boat captains and shipping companies to put calculations of the financial cost of salvaging poor and unwanted seafarers in distress above both their duty to rescue and human compassion. Every time a government refuses to allow those who have been rescued to disembark at the nearest port or the final port of destination, they increase the pressure on captains and shipping companies to avert their gaze when they see a migrant boat in trouble. It can cost companies millions of dollars if states refuse to let their vessels enter ports or offload cargoes because there are migrants on board. The disincentives for responsible behaviour became paradoxically clear when fishermen who helped seafarers in distress were made to face criminal charges, rather than praise for saving lives and fulfilling a duty clearly spelled out in international law and common humanity.
The millions of people who risk their lives and safety in order to cross international borders in search of a better life present one of the most serious human rights problems in our world today.
Navi Pillay is United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
In the latest shameful incident last month,scores of migrants died of hunger and thirst while attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy. Reportedly, Maltese authorities had spotted their boat in distress.They provided food, water and fuel, as well as life vests, and alerted their Italian counterparts. The emaciated passengers were left to go on with their trip. Only five of them came through this ordeal and were finally rescued by the Italian Coast Guard.
The Maltese government maintains that its officials had complied with international agreements. But their actions fall woefully short of international human rights obligations and standards of conduct at sea.
In that very busy and heavily patrolled stretch of water between northern Africa and Italy, only one vessel stopped to provide sustenance to the shipwrecked.
Human rights advocates have again raised their voices in horror and protest, reminding governments and private concerns that the rescue of persons in distress at sea is not only an obligation under the international law of the sea, but also a humanitarian necessity, irrespective of the status of voyagers and the reasons for their voyage.
Human rights law is of paramount importance. First and foremost the right to life and security of persons must be upheld, for example, by providing food, water and all the necessary care and protection to those who desperately need such sustenance to survive. Specifically, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and recent amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea, as well as the Search and Rescue Conventions and the implementing guidelines issued by the International Maritime Organisation,anchor the rules of conduct expected and required at sea.
Government disregard of international duties represents only part of the problem.There is no doubt that ruthless people smugglers bear much of the blame for the thousands of deaths that occur each year in the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Aden, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and elsewhere.It is vital that flag states exercise effective jurisdiction and control over their vessels by ensuring strict compliance with safety standards set out in relevant international instruments so that unseaworthy ship and boats remain ashore. They must also prevent and prohibit smuggling and trafficking of migrants. Further, states inspecting vessels suspected of involvement in smuggling or trafficking must treat all persons on board humanely and in a dignified manner regardless of their status. Instead, overcrowded vessels and their passengers are sometimes endangered by the methods employed by governments and regional organisations to intercept and turn back boatloads of migrants and refugees.
There must be an unequivocal recognition that no persons, including asylum seekers and migrants, inhabit a human rights limbo while travelling or upon reaching a destination other than their country of origin.
A failure to protect migrants' human rights encourages boat captains and shipping companies to put calculations of the financial cost of salvaging poor and unwanted seafarers in distress above both their duty to rescue and human compassion. Every time a government refuses to allow those who have been rescued to disembark at the nearest port or the final port of destination, they increase the pressure on captains and shipping companies to avert their gaze when they see a migrant boat in trouble. It can cost companies millions of dollars if states refuse to let their vessels enter ports or offload cargoes because there are migrants on board. The disincentives for responsible behaviour became paradoxically clear when fishermen who helped seafarers in distress were made to face criminal charges, rather than praise for saving lives and fulfilling a duty clearly spelled out in international law and common humanity.
The millions of people who risk their lives and safety in order to cross international borders in search of a better life present one of the most serious human rights problems in our world today.
Navi Pillay is United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Ministry of Commerce commits 2 billion baht to drive Thai logistics
Logistics is one of the key elements of trade and investment relations being developed by ASEAN, including ASEAN+3, ASEAN+6 and ASEAN-China and in relation to ASEAN countries around the Mekong Region.
Related projects being discussed at the ASEAN level cover border agreements dealing with cargo. A network of distribution centres, transit stations and cargo portals supporting international trade is also being developed. Various projects will also support maritime trade, including adoption of incoterms and multiple transport forms. Collaboration between the public and private sectors in developing infrastructure and providing logistics is being encouraged.
In this connection. the Thai government has devoloped a program of related economic incentives involving a budget of over US$2 billion. The money will be used to develop logistics systems around the country, with emphasis on improving rail and water transportation. The possibility of joint venture projects with private companies in China under the supervision of the Chinese government to develop high-speed rail systems and para-rail systems linking maritime transport with rail systems in southern China is also being looked at. Meanwhile, the rail system from northeast Thailand to Laem Chabang Deep-Sea Port is also being developed and both projects are expected to progress considerably following the impending visit of Thai Commerce Minister, Korbsak Sabhavasu, to China.
The Deputy Minister added that: By the end of this year, our logistics trade policies will be implemented in two ways, offensively and defensively. Defensive implementation involves creating new logistics pathways to target countries, including both standard and advanced formats, so as to stimulate trade in various targeted regions."
Defensive implementation will also extend to encouraging Thai logistics companies to find solutions to their liquidity problems with help from the Small and Medium Enterprises Devolopment Bank of Thailand (SME Bank). A logistics management network will be established under two groups, namely Thai Logistics Alliance Co., Ltd. (TLA), comprising 31 members, and Siam Logistics Alliance Co., Ltd. (SLA) comprising 26 members. The objective here is to expand water - and rail-based transportation services and encourage more widespread use by reducing costs and increasing efficiency and customer service.
Among the top priority projects is Pakbara Deep-Sea Port in Satun province which will be developed as part of efforts to open up trade routes to the BIMTEC group comprising India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Thailand. Backed by full business incentives, the new port will be a gateway to economic development for the five southern border provinces of Thailand. It will promote trade between Thailand and India, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, thereby advancing Thailand's competitiveness in doing business with the West.
The Thai economy and society are inextricably linked to the rest of the world. Therefore, we must adapt in order to develop. It we make the most of the opportunities presented by globalisation now by enlisting the help and cooperation of all citizens, our prospects for the future should be brighter than ever.
Ministry of Commerce
www.moc.go.th
As Chairman of Logistics Trade, Deputy Commerce Minister Mr. Alongkorn Pollabutr said: "We expect to see rapid progress in implementing the free trade plans within 2009. Thailand will become capable of providing far more sophisticated logistics services to ASEAN members. In order to build the momentum for more active ASEAN markets, we will encourage the private sector to get involved. With this in place, we expect to see Thailand's intra-ASEAN trade growing at a rate of at least 10-20% annually"
Related projects being discussed at the ASEAN level cover border agreements dealing with cargo. A network of distribution centres, transit stations and cargo portals supporting international trade is also being developed. Various projects will also support maritime trade, including adoption of incoterms and multiple transport forms. Collaboration between the public and private sectors in developing infrastructure and providing logistics is being encouraged.
In this connection. the Thai government has devoloped a program of related economic incentives involving a budget of over US$2 billion. The money will be used to develop logistics systems around the country, with emphasis on improving rail and water transportation. The possibility of joint venture projects with private companies in China under the supervision of the Chinese government to develop high-speed rail systems and para-rail systems linking maritime transport with rail systems in southern China is also being looked at. Meanwhile, the rail system from northeast Thailand to Laem Chabang Deep-Sea Port is also being developed and both projects are expected to progress considerably following the impending visit of Thai Commerce Minister, Korbsak Sabhavasu, to China.
The Deputy Minister added that: By the end of this year, our logistics trade policies will be implemented in two ways, offensively and defensively. Defensive implementation involves creating new logistics pathways to target countries, including both standard and advanced formats, so as to stimulate trade in various targeted regions."
Defensive implementation will also extend to encouraging Thai logistics companies to find solutions to their liquidity problems with help from the Small and Medium Enterprises Devolopment Bank of Thailand (SME Bank). A logistics management network will be established under two groups, namely Thai Logistics Alliance Co., Ltd. (TLA), comprising 31 members, and Siam Logistics Alliance Co., Ltd. (SLA) comprising 26 members. The objective here is to expand water - and rail-based transportation services and encourage more widespread use by reducing costs and increasing efficiency and customer service.
Among the top priority projects is Pakbara Deep-Sea Port in Satun province which will be developed as part of efforts to open up trade routes to the BIMTEC group comprising India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Thailand. Backed by full business incentives, the new port will be a gateway to economic development for the five southern border provinces of Thailand. It will promote trade between Thailand and India, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, thereby advancing Thailand's competitiveness in doing business with the West.
The Thai economy and society are inextricably linked to the rest of the world. Therefore, we must adapt in order to develop. It we make the most of the opportunities presented by globalisation now by enlisting the help and cooperation of all citizens, our prospects for the future should be brighter than ever.
Ministry of Commerce
www.moc.go.th
As Chairman of Logistics Trade, Deputy Commerce Minister Mr. Alongkorn Pollabutr said: "We expect to see rapid progress in implementing the free trade plans within 2009. Thailand will become capable of providing far more sophisticated logistics services to ASEAN members. In order to build the momentum for more active ASEAN markets, we will encourage the private sector to get involved. With this in place, we expect to see Thailand's intra-ASEAN trade growing at a rate of at least 10-20% annually"
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Abkhazia threatens Georgian shipping
The leader of the Russianbacked rebel region of Abkhazia yesterday threatened to destroy Georgian ships which entered the enclave's "territorial waters", Interfax news agency reported.
Tensions between Georgia and Abkhazia in the Black Sea have risen sharply in recent weeks, with Georgia trying to impose an economic and commercial embargo adopted last year in the wake of its five-day war with Russia.
Georgia says it has detained four ships delivering goods to Abkhazia this year,including two within several days of each other late last month.
"I have issued an order to our navy to destroy any Georgian ships violating Abkhazia's sea border," the region's leader Sergei Bagapsh told Interfax."This step has been motivated by unending acts of piracy by Georgia."
Georgia on Tuesday sentenced the captain of a Turkish-operated tanker to 24 years in jail for trying to deliver fuel to Abkhazia. Georgia says it detained the tanker in Georgian waters, but its operator says it was seized at gunpoint in international waters.
Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Tbilisi would hold Russia, which controls Abkhazia's borders and its coastline under a deal with the region, responsible for any attacks on its ships.
"Abkhazia's navy does not exist," he said."There are no Abkhaz territorial waters, as these waters belong to Georgia.If there is an attack on Georgian ships,Russia would be responsible, not the separatist government."
Russian border-guard commander General Yevgeny Inchin said on Friday his forces would ensure the safety of merchant ships entering Abkhaz waters,but did not specify how.
Russian military experts say the Abkhaz navy consists of eight boats armed with light guns.
Mr Bagapsh said Russian ships would not be involved in any operations against Georgian ships.
"I want to stress that we are talking exclusively about the Abkhaz navy," he said."Russia's navy is not being used and will not be used to carry out this task."
In a statement on Tuesday, Abkhazia said Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was trying to disrupt life in the region through the embargo.
Tensions between Georgia and Abkhazia in the Black Sea have risen sharply in recent weeks, with Georgia trying to impose an economic and commercial embargo adopted last year in the wake of its five-day war with Russia.
Georgia says it has detained four ships delivering goods to Abkhazia this year,including two within several days of each other late last month.
"I have issued an order to our navy to destroy any Georgian ships violating Abkhazia's sea border," the region's leader Sergei Bagapsh told Interfax."This step has been motivated by unending acts of piracy by Georgia."
Georgia on Tuesday sentenced the captain of a Turkish-operated tanker to 24 years in jail for trying to deliver fuel to Abkhazia. Georgia says it detained the tanker in Georgian waters, but its operator says it was seized at gunpoint in international waters.
Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Tbilisi would hold Russia, which controls Abkhazia's borders and its coastline under a deal with the region, responsible for any attacks on its ships.
"Abkhazia's navy does not exist," he said."There are no Abkhaz territorial waters, as these waters belong to Georgia.If there is an attack on Georgian ships,Russia would be responsible, not the separatist government."
Russian border-guard commander General Yevgeny Inchin said on Friday his forces would ensure the safety of merchant ships entering Abkhaz waters,but did not specify how.
Russian military experts say the Abkhaz navy consists of eight boats armed with light guns.
Mr Bagapsh said Russian ships would not be involved in any operations against Georgian ships.
"I want to stress that we are talking exclusively about the Abkhaz navy," he said."Russia's navy is not being used and will not be used to carry out this task."
In a statement on Tuesday, Abkhazia said Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was trying to disrupt life in the region through the embargo.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)