MyPorts to Boost Landbridge Trade between Malaysia and Thailand

Published by Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR , Aug 2 (Bernama) -- Rail transportation of freight or landbridge trade between Malaysia and Thailand is set to improve following an alliance between Dagang Net Technologies Sdn Bhd and TS TransAsia Sdn Bhd.

The two companies announced Tuesday a collaboration in which TS TransAsia will provide vital information on rail or landbridge schedules to Dagang Net for publication on its web-based portal called MyPorts.

According to Dagang Net, MyPorts is a one-stop trade exchange that offers numerous value-added services to allow a fast, convenient, reliable and secure trading environment for the business communities.

Its executive director Amiruddin Abdul Aziz said Dagang Net would work closely with TS TransAsia to offer "seamless rail connection" to bolster freight movements from Thailand to Malaysia , in particular cargo types which are semi-sensitive to time and cost and the transhipment of export goods.

"We are confident that this joint effort to promote the landbridge services can help catalyse and flourish trade opportunities for both Malaysia and Thailand ," he said after the signing ceremony here.

He added that a positive response was expected from users as the integration of such operations into one single entry point or "single window" could offer more benefits to both the public sector and business communities.

TS TransAsia's managing director Kuan Kok Onn said the partnership would help to meet the business communities' demand for a landbridge service that served as an alternative mode of transport between Malaysia and Thailand .

He said the attractions of the landbridge service included reduced transloading times at the border and cheaper freight charges for shippers from Penang, Ipoh and Port Klang.

"After forging this partnership with Dagang Net, we anticipate the container throughput of our Malaysia-Thailand landbridge service will increase significantly," he added.

Dagang Net's chief executive officer Saifol Bahri Mohd Shamlan said the company had spent RM200,000 to put up MyPorts.

"Our total revenue is RM50 million and we believe that we can get eight to 10 percent contribution from the freight train services," he said. Dagang Net said besides gaining access to vital landbridge information online via MyPorts, the trade communities could also depend on its Sistem Maklumat Kastam-Dagang Net network to help them meet their customs duty and documentation compliance obligations.

It added that the same data could also be used for both the export and import declaration via its eDeclare service, thus taking further the benefits of electronic data re-usability.

Dagang Net is the largest national e-commerce and electronic document exchange service provider while Port Klang-based TS TransAsia, a subsidiary of the Tuck Sun Logistics Group, pioneered the landbridge services between Malaysia and Thailand in 1999 when it simplified customs documentation formalities.