Triple i reports robust air-freight growth

       The Triple i Logistics Group, a light-asset based integrated logistics service provider, expects robust 30-per-cent growth in its freight business this year, bringing its total revenue for 2009 to Bt1.1 billion, or the same as last year.
       "Focused more clearly on wholesale customers, we recorded a 21-per-cent jump in air-transport business in the first nine months, against a 30-per-cent drop in overall freight rates," said chief financial officer Viraj Nobnomtham.
       The group now manages average air-freight volumes of 1,000 tonnes a month, up from 400 tonnes last year, and expects its air-freight volumes to grow to more than 1,500 tonnes a month next year, he said.
       The group's revenue contribution from air freight this year has been 48 per cent, up from 38 per cent last year; sea freight, 41 per cent, down from 51 per cent; and logistics, 11 per cent, even with last year.
       For sea freight and logistics, the group performed better than the overall market in the first nine months of the year. Its sea freight volumes dropped 30 per cent year on year to a value of Bt311 million, while overall freight rates fell 40 per cent.
       In its logistics service, the group recorded a 1-per-cent year-on-year drop to Bt88 million in the first nine months.
       Viraj said the group was continually adjusting its business to react to global changes, enabling its performance to beat the industry average. In the first nine months, the value of Thailand's trade abroad fell. Exports and imports recorded negative growth of minus 23 per cent and minus 35 per cent, respectively.
       "Luckily for us, due to the expansion of Thai AirAsia's routes to many destinations in China, we have grown despite those conditions," he said.
       CEO Tipp Dalal said the group had adjusted its business plan in response to an expected global economic recovery next year by focusing on Asean + 6, especially China, Australia and India, plus Africa, considered to be the world's fastest-growing markets.
       He said as well as Thai AirAsia, the Triple i Logistics Group planned to become a general sales agent for cargo with other airlines.
       "We are in talks with a few airlines and expect results this year," he said, adding that this would support the group's existing air-freight services.
       The group's sea-freight business has been hard hit by the global financial crisis, which resulted in a huge fall in orders placed around the world. This applies especially to the US, one of the world's largest consumers and Thailand's major export market, which has reduced its orders in the past six months, he said.
       "However, there are potential markets that have bright prospects next year, involving exports of food, frozen food and printing products and imports of pharmaceuticals and electrical appliances," Tipp said.
       Triple i believes both air- and sea-freight rates will rise 15-20 per cent next year, helping its revenue reach Bt1.4 billion. This is because the supply side in air and sea space has been substantially reduced, he said.
       "The county's container-freight volumes should recover next year, buoyed by the recovery of the world economy," Tipp said, predicting that the volume should swing back to the same levels as those recorded last year.
       For its logistics business, Tipp said the group would focus more on cross-border transport, expecting this to become "a rising star" in the next five years as more trade developed between the Indochinese countries and other Asean members.