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Japan International Freight Forwarders Association (JIFFA)’s Forwarding Committee held an online seminar on Dec. 14, focusing on up-to-date information on logistics in Myanmar. The freight forwarding industry is highly interested physical distribution in the Southeast Asian nation, as it is growing rapidly. JIFFA organized a workshop in October to study cross-border transport between Myanmar and Thailand as well as the latest developments in logistics in Myanmar. However, the number of those who wanted to attend it was much greater than the number of those that JIFFA could accept. The association, as such, gave a similar event on Nov. 9 to discuss the same subjects. As there were still many requests for a continuation to work more deeply on current movements in logistics in Myanmar, JIFFA recently held its third seminar. Mr. Atsushi Bando from ATTS Consulting gave lectures at all of the three classes.
At the December online seminar, Mr. Bando used visual aids to discuss local affairs in logistics in Yangon, including domestic long-distance trucking services.
Yangon Port, the gateway to Myanmar when shipments are moved by sea, is a river port located some 40 kilometers from the mouth of the Yangon River. For this reason, ships exceeding 167 meters in length, nine meters in draft or 15,000 deadweight tons in capacity cannot be accepted. About 25 kilometers south of Yangon, there is Port Thilawa, but it can only accommodate vessels of up to 20,000 deadweight tons. The ports are both hampered by the fact that larger cargo freighters cannot enter them, Mr. Bando said. At Port Thilawa, there is a special economic zone (SEZ) and a railway route to and from Yangon.
Warehouses in Yangon are modern facilities thanks to growth in the local economy, having eliminated most hardware problems. Nevertheless, there should still be more developments from the software aspects, including digitalization, Mr. Bando stressed. Inland container depots (ICDs) are only places for storing empty containers. There are some dry ports, facilities that can provide customs-inspection, bonded warehousing and/or transport services. However, they only obtained licenses for bonded warehouses. It is expected to take more time for them to offer customs-inspection or bonded transport services.
Some 600 kilometers north of Yangon, there is Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar. Next-day trucking services are available. Less-than-truckload service are also provided, but fierce competition among operators leads to severe price dumping. Mr. Bando said that it is, as such, very important to find a reliable service provider. From Yangon to Mandalay by rail, however, it takes about 30 hours, as the state-run railway service preferentially carries passengers and only accepts bulk cargo. Private container mover RCL (Myanmar) handles 20- and 40-foot containers, running a weekly service to move a total of 27 wagons (equivalent to 54 TEUs). In 2019, the operator carried a 40-foot container at a rate of 500,000 Kyat (about US$370-400), he added.
There are waterways linking Yangon with Mandalay, but they are hardly used as there are no cargo-handling facilities. A long-distance trucking service is operated between Mandalay and Muse, which is located on the border with China. The service is, however, provided on a very rough 460-kilometer mountain route with no tunnels or bridges. Therefore, there are infrastructure improvement projects are ongoing now, said Mr. Bando.
