CEVA Logistics and CMA CGM have introduced a combined ocean freight and cross-border trucking service between Thailand and Laos that enables both importers and exporters to reduce their carbon footprint as empty containers no longer have to be returned to their origin.
In a statement, CEVA said the unique solution for ocean freight containers enables importers to drop off their empty containers at a newly expanded CMA CGM container depot, operated by CEVA, outside the Laos capital of Vientiane.
This means there is no need for an empty return leg where equipment would be previously unused and would have been sent back to the Thai port of Laem Chabang where it entered the country. Exporters from both Laos and Northeastern Thailand benefit from no delay in accessing containers in their region, which means they can swiftly and easily expedite their freight on its journey to the port.
Effective immediately, the container depot in Vientiane will support all CMA CGM Group carriers and will additionally provide storage, repacking and assembly services within the Free Trade Zone from which it operates, the statement said.
“Our close co-operation with CMA CGM to deliver a unique industry proposition has been warmly welcomed by customers in both Laos and Northeastern Thailand,” Elaine Low, Southeast Asia executive vice president of CEVA Logistics, said.
“It serves as a very concrete example of the tangible benefits the strategic partnership with CMA CGM already brings to our customers, providing them with faster access to our global network, adding value to their supply chains and helping preserve the environment,” she added.
CEVA has been quickly expanding its operations in emerging Southeast Asia markets, saying these emerging economies “present considerable growth potential, providing significant development opportunities in the transport and logistics sector.”
As part of this expansion drive, the supply chain service provider opened its own office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia last May 27 after six years of operating in the country through a network partner, providing freight management services to a number of multinational and local customers.
With the opening of its own facility, CEVA now offers the full range of its global services in multimodal, land transport, sea-air and export processing zone/container freight station facilities in Cambodia, said the logistics company.
“CEVA is now assuming responsibility for all its network operations and financial services, billings and intercompany settlements there with improved control over the company’s business and expansion of product propositions.”
The company’s operations in emerging Southeast Asian markets already span Cambodia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Laos. These rapidly emerging economies present considerable growth potential, with Cambodia for instance growing at a pace of 7.1% in 2017.
Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra