Thai entrepreneurs seek investment opportunities at Thanaleng Dry Port, Vientiane Logistics Park

With its cost-effective logistics and transport-related facilities that enable an efficient flow of goods within the region and beyond, entrepreneurs from neighbouring Thailand are seeking business opportunities at the Vientiane Logistics Park and its Thanaleng Dry Port.
“Many Thai companies have been providing transport services here,” Vientiane Logistics Park Co., Ltd. Vice President Tee Chee Seng told visiting Thai business operators in response to their questions.

Thai business operators are briefed about the dry port and logistics park.           --Photo Bee

Mr Tee Chee Seng says many Thai transport operators have offered services via the dry port.  --Photo Bee

A group of Thai entrepreneurs including the President of the Real Estate Sales & Marketing Association, Mr Precha Suphapetiporn; Vice President and Secretary of the Thai Real Estate Association, Mr Lertmongkol Waravenuch; and Managing Director of Modern Property Consultants Co., Ltd., Mr Wasan Khongchantr, visited the dry port on Friday. Executives from the Lao SME Association also visited the site.
Currently, countries such as China, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore are trading goods through the dry port, which contains extensions of the Laos-China and Laos-Thailand railway tracks to enable the easy transfer of goods for onward shipment.
As a multimodal transport (rail-land-sea) facilitator, the dry port is an important gateway between Southeast Asian countries and China.
Over the first five months of this year, as many as 13,000 containers passed through the dry port, which opened for service in December last year.
Transport service providers have enjoyed lucrative businesses, thanks to the cheaper transport costs.
President of Thailand’s Kaocharoen Train Transport Co., Ltd., Panya Paputsaro, told the Vientiane Times during his trip to the dry port that he had enjoyed cost-effective services when shipping farm products from Thailand to China, one of the major markets for Thai agricultural produce.  
Through the dry port, the railways and the China-Europe rail network, Mr Panya said shipments to Europe take only two weeks. Another benefit is that transport by rail cuts costs by up to 40 percent compared to the cost of sea freight, which also takes much longer at about 45 days.
This month, the Thai businessman plans to ship dried food from Thailand to Russia by rail.
Many delegations of Thai authorities have visited the dry port and logistics park to learn about the opportunities offered by this vital infrastructure project, which is being developed near the first Laos-Thailand Mekong Friendship Bridge.
On the opposite side of the Mekong, the Thai government plans to build the Northeastern Economic Corridor spanning the provinces of Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Nakhon Ratchasima and Nong Khai.

A bird’s eye view of the dry port entrance and exit.      --Photo Bee

As part of the Lao Logistics Link (LLL) project, which also includes the Vung Ang seaport in Vietnam’s central Ha Tinh province, a planned railway linking the seaport and the Lao capital Vientiane, and a logistics park in Khammuan province, this means the dry port offers a convenient option for Thailand’s Isaan region to access countries in the Pacific region, according to Mr Tee Chee Seng.
Being developed on 382 hectares of land, the US$727 million project also offers opportunities in its investment zones with many incentives offered including tax breaks in line with Lao laws.
The Export Processing Zone will offer a more competitive business environment and will gear up to become a manufacturing export hub for Southeast Asian countries and the global consumer market.
Manufacturers in the zone will also enjoy trade privileges offered by major markets such as the United States and Europe to Laos, due to its status as a least developed country.
Meanwhile, the Free Trade Zone houses main business activities including the HALAL hub and agriculture production park, technology park, office zone, SME area, and commercial zone.

By Advertorial Desk
 (Latest Update August 1, 2022)