Connecting Thailand with China
The Chinese branch of the former Nippon Express Group, now NX Group, recently launched a new multimodal transport service linking up China and neighbouring Asean countries.
With lead times of five days, this new offer is a multimodal service for transporting cargo by rail between Kunming, China and Vientiane, Laos and then by truck from Vientiane to Thailand and other neighbouring countries across the international border with Thailand’s Nong Khai Province.
This service is also intended as a BCP option for transport when ocean cargo transport should be disrupted. It follows the successful launch of the Nanning-Hanoi railway, a new China-Laos railway connecting Kunming and Vientiane, which was opened in December 2021.
Before that, cross-border trucking had been the mainstream choice for land-based transport connecting China and Asean - until the NX Group stepped in. The advantages of the new link include avoiding congestion on the China-Laos border, shortening lead times and enabling bulk transport by using the new connecting railway to Vientiane. Pilot runs have already been carried out from Kunming to Ayutthaya, Thailand. (sh)