Triple i Logistics to further expand overseas network
Triple i Logistics Group, a leading provider of logistics services in Thailand, says it will continue its business expansion in China and Asean in response to the global economic recovery and more investments in the region, shrugging off the impact from p
Group chief executive office Tipp Dalal said yesterday that the group would focus more on seeking partners to set up new joint ventures overseas and expanding its network of logistics services.
“We expect to see at least 5-per-cent growth in exports this year, compared with flat growth last year, making logistics services and domestic air-freight business boom,” he said.
Tipp said the group would join forces with a local partner in Singapore to establish a joint venture to open a 9,000-pallet warehouse in the city-state’s Tuas Industrial Zone, where a new deep-sea port is to be established. The warehouse, which is expected to commence operations in next quarter, is to store petrochemical products. The project value is around Bt250 billion.
Triple i Logistics will open five more branches for air-freight services in China and Asean, he said, bringing its total overseas branches to nine.
Tipp said the group’s three core businesses – logistics services and air freight and sea freight – saw Bt1.94 billion in sales last year, 7.6 per cent lower than targeted, with a decline in the value on in- and outbound air shipments the main reason.
However, Triple i Logistics Group has shifted the focus of its air-freight business from overseas to domestic destinations to avoid such declines in the future, Tipp said. He added that some shipments had been moved to air-freight service as result of political chaos that had obstructed land transport.
In its sea-freight business, the group posted 13-per-cent sales growth last year. Tipp said it would increase its annual container-handling capacity this year to 53,000 units from 44,000. The group enjoyed the solid growth in sea-freight business after taking on Korea-based CK Line as an agent, providing routes to such Asian destinations as mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and Vietnam, besides South Korea.
He said the group would provide its clients with logistics and supply-chain solutions to compensate for a possible decline in warehousing services due to the prolonged political conflict. There have been no applications for privileges from the Board of Investment so far this year, which might signal a lack of investment in the Thai economy in the long term.
The group will open a 10,000-square-metre warehouse on Bang Na-Trat Rd KM19 this year.
Tipp said the group expected sales to grow by 15 per cent to Bt2.23 billion this year.
