NATIONAL LOGISTICS STRATEGY "CRUCIAL TO GMS SUCCESS"

       The government should draw up a national strategic logistics plan as Thailand is part of the global value chain, repositioning itself as a corridor in the Greater Mekong Subregion, a major logistics firm said yesterday.
       Speaking at the "Logistics Asia 2009" seminar, SCG Logistics Management managing director Bhanumas Srisukh said: "The government should also look at Singapore as an ally reather than as a competitor."
       He said the major role the government should speedily play was easing the multiplicity of dated rules and regulations relating to transportation, as well as investing more in important infrastructure such as road and rail systems.
       The latter would link Thailand with GMS countries, including southern China(Yunnan), Burma, Laos and Vietnam, so that the Kingdom can be a corridor to enhance trade between the GMS region and the rest of the world, transporting goods by road to Laem Chabang Port, which can them connect to Singapore before shipping goods around the globe.
       "Developing missing links from the GMS to Thailand would not only enhance the competitiveness of our exports, but also boost international trade. This would be instead of building Pak Bara Port in Satun, for which the country has drawn up a strategic logistics plan to use the port as a point of exit for the Andaman coast to link China with India," said Bhanumas.
       He said that for this strategy, the country was being seen as Singapore's competitor, whereas in fact it was not ready to compete.
       He added that as Singapore had develooped its logistics management system to global standards, Thailand should improve its own logistics standard to support that of Singapore as part of a logistics value chain.
       Considering the Kingdom's strengths, Thailand has a central location with a coastline on two sides, is service-minded, has an extensive road network, low labour costs and a large labour pool, plus the ability to connect transportation with China,he said.
       However, its weaknesses are the small size of its seaports, limited rail network, lack of skilled human resources and out-of-date rules and regulations.
       Oh Bee Lock, senior vice president for corporate planning at Singapore's PSA Corp, said he regarded Thailand as an ally of Singapore, not a competitor. The two countries. therefore, can connect their transportation at the same standard level to enhance freight between Asean and other regions more rapidly and at a competitive cost.
       The port of Singapore connects to 600 ports in more than 120 countries. PSA has 28 ports in 16 countries wit annual revenue of 4.4 billion Singaporean dollars (Bt104 billion) and throughput of 63 milliion containers (20-foot equivalent units).
       "Logistics Asia 2009" was cohosted by the Thailand Management Association, the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Transportation Institute.