Shippers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should forge an alliance to present a stronger regional voice in the global shipping scene, suggests the head of a shippers’ association based in Thailand.
Nopporn Thepsithar, Thai National Shippers’ Council chairman, said there is still a lack of collaboration among entities in the ASEAN as he underscored the need for the region to be a resilient force in the shipping industry to face other established economies such as Europe, according to a report by Bernama, Malaysia’s national news agency.
“We should form an ASEAN shippers’ alliance that should include Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, but currently only Indonesia has participated in the alliance,” he said.
The region’s countries should also link up to have better business-to-business and business-to-government collaborations, he added.
He pointed out, for instance, how Malaysia and Thailand could leverage their expertise and knowledge in railway transportation.
He added that Malaysia is relatively advanced in railway transportation, and that collaborations between the two countries are pivotal to their growth as the future lies in this mode of transportation.
“I see that Malaysia has a strategy in developing train transportation since the last decade, and Thailand needs to emulate this as passenger and cargo trains should be emphasized rather than roads. Both countries need to have better two-way railroad transportation linkages to reduce transportation cost,” he told Bernama.
Nopporn said, however, that in terms of road linkages, there are still barriers between the two countries that need to be addressed.
“We should sit down, plan for the future to be stronger entities. I propose that we have more collaborations in land transportation and logistics,” he said.
Thai government to focus on boosting exports
In other developments, the Thai government plans to spend more on renovations and construction to create jobs and boost domestic consumption in a move to stimulate the economy.
Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha said about THB100 billion were still not spent from this year’s budget because of political problems, according to a report by Bernama.
He added that the government will also focus on improving and adding value to export products, and promoting seminars in provinces to boost the services and tourism industry.
“Thailand also has to work on removing obstacles to investment as there are many foreign investors such as from ASEAN countries who are ready to invest in the country,” he said.
The Prime Minister said he expects the economy to be in better shape next year compared to this year. “Yes, I expect so (better economy next year)… but whether it will be good or bad is is not because of me or because of the government. It has to do with the global economic situation,” he said.
Photo: emnic
