Bangkok airport cargo congestion frustrates freight forwarders
The air logistics system at Bangkok airport is sputtering because of an IT failure at several warehouses.
Airlines, freight forwarders, importers and exporters are pressing Thai Airways to quickly correct a system breakdown in cargo terminals it operates at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, which has resulted in costly delays for manufacturing supply chains, according to local media reports and logistics firms.
Warehouse workers are having difficulty locating and processing shipments because the cargo clearance system developed by Airports of Thailand, which manages the airport, and Thai Airways isn’t recording their storage location and status, according to the Thai Airfreight Forwarders Association (TAFA). Large amounts of cargo remain on pallets and containers waiting to be broken down.
Details of the situation were reported by The Nation and local business publication Thansettakij. Hundreds of containers are sitting unattended.
Why It Matters: The delays are taking place during the peak shipping season in a country that is a key piece of the electronics and AI infrastructure ecosystem. Top export categories are electrical machinery and equipment, with local manufacturing propelled by the worldwide surge in demand for AI-related cloud storage. Major export destinations remain the United States, China, and Japan, where demand for advanced electronics continues to rise. Thailand also is a large exporter of auto parts and rubber products. About 22% of Thailand’s exports last year went to the United States, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
This story was originally published by FreightWaves. Read the full story at FreightWaves →
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