Ask any freight forwarder in Thailand and they will tell you that a shipping agent in Bangkok faces challenges that are unique and directly related to the city itself. Just getting from one part of the city to another can take many hours, depending on the time of day.
One could ask why the problem of efficient transport within the metro area is so imposing and the answer has multiple facets:
- The city of Bangkok itself has seen a huge growth in population in the last 50 years. From a city of 2 million in the late 60’s Bangkok currently has over 9 million people living within the boundary of the core city with additional population growth spreading outward to adjoining provinces.
- This growth in population has been exacerbated by the absence of an organized city planning strategy. Growth within the city is almost exclusively controlled by the private sector and until recently urban planning by the city has been a secondary consideration.
- While mass transportation within Bangkok proper is fairly well developed, there has been little investment in mass transit in the outer regions of the metropolis to speed the influx of commuters going into and out of the city each day. This results in massive traffic jams that can turn freeways and secondary roads into parking lots at certain times of the day.
- To add to these logistical and demographic problems, flooding can affect transport within and around the city at certain times of the year as well. Situated at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River on the Gulf of Thailand, the city is below 2 meters elevation in most areas. To make matters even more concerning, the city itself is sinking at a rate of 2 centimeters every year.
These issues combine to create a daunting set of challenges for shippers looking to move products into and out of Bangkok’s airports and ocean terminals.
The infrastructure problems in Bangkok are not small and the solutions are complicated and expensive. One plan to reduce the flooding and traffic problem would be to build a 100 KM underground, two tiered tunnel that could be designed to handle flooding when needed but serve as a roadway on the upper tunnel when conditions are dry.
Traffic congestion solutions are less obvious and many experts question if the city’s traffic problem hasn’t gone beyond what can be solved. Individual, dedicated bus lanes, more mass transit infrastructure, and a strategy to reduce automobiles within the city proper have all been looked at.
Located at a crossroads of commerce within the ASEAN region, Bangkok will continue to grow despite the logistical problems within the city itself. Local freight forwarders like Eagles Air & Sea Ltd., who are experienced in dealing with these issues, offer potential customers the best option as they consider moving their goods into or out of Bangkok. Check out our shipping agent service at Pratunam Bangkok.
