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.