Thailand Post ‘s logistics arm aims to be Indochina hub

Warakan Srinualnad, chief executive officer of Thailand Post Distribution, said yesterday that the company aimed for Bt400 million in revenue in 2015 and expected to keep growing at 10 per cent per year. The company will expand to cover the whole Indochina region by 2017.

The main target customers include providers of medicines and medical supplies, e-commerce and home shopping, banks and financial institutions, multinational companies and border traders.

“The company already has customers such as the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation, the National Security Health Office and a home shopping company. As of now, most of our customers are government organisations. Our services are available for business-to-business, government-to-government, and business-to-government,” Warakan said.

Thailand Post Distribution, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thailand Post, was established last year with registered capital of Bt350 million. It offers total logistical solutions including packing, warehousing, delivery and payment services for both private companies and government organisations.

Warakan said the company was combining the strengths of Thailand Post with those of strategic partners in both fleet management and warehouses.

Currently, the company has about eight fleet-management partners, with combined transport fleets of 500. Its warehouse partners include WHA Corporation, while its parent company, Thailand Post, and technology partners provide warehouse and transport management systems.

Thailand Post Distribution has established its 20,000-square-metre warehouse network under Good Storage Practice standards, setting aside around 11,000sqm for temperature-controlled areas for storage of such products as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and cosmeceuticals.

The company also uses 10 of Thailand Post’s 16 warehouses and distribution centres located throughout the country. Its transport and distribution services adhere to Good Distribution Practice standards.

“The services of Thailand Post and Thailand Post Distribution are complementary to each other. We act as strategic partners to use each other’s infrastructure and resources. For example, we can use Thailand Post’s 5,000 outlets [post offices, postal centres, and regional postal centres] to fulfil our services,” Warakan said.

The logistics market in Thailand accounts for around 15-17 per cent of gross domestic product, Warakan said. The market is also growing in emerging areas, especially e-commerce.

Piyawat Mahapauraya, senior executive vice president and acting president of Thailand Post, said its four main businesses were communications, logistics, retail and financial services. Thailand Post Distribution is now responsible for logistics.