MOL to develop box depot in Thailand despite low growth

Japanese shipping group MOL plans to invest in its first container depot to be built in Laem Chabang, Chon Buri, Thailand.

The Thai depot is slated for completion in April 2009. It will cover an area measuring 75,800 square metres and will be located about ten kilometers from the deep sea Port of Laem Chabang. This development comes despite the president of MOL (Thailand) Takao Furukawa saying that the business outlook next year was still unclear, although the company expected some growth, on expectations that Thailand's export and import trade would remain steady. "Many Japanese automakers are expanding in Thailand's manufacturing centres. That could bring growth of import-export activities," Mr. Furukawa stated. As a result MOL has revised downwards its growth forecast for the Thai unit to three percent this year, from ten percent earlier, owing to the slowdown in the global economy weakening demand for Thailand's exports. Mr. Furukawa said Thai volumes grew by 16 percent in 2007 and ten percent in 2006. The carrier controls about six percent of the import-export volume between Thailand and Japan that amounts to 4.9 million TEU annually. MOL Thailand anticipates it will handle 320,000TEU in Thailand this year, up from 300,000TEU last year.
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