Border clashes halt Thailand-Cambodia trucking
The flare-up on the border between Cambodia and Thailand has led to closures, severely disrupting ...
By Stuart Todd
Air cargo charter flights came to the fore after armed conflict saw the land border between Thailand and Cambodia closed, disrupting normal supply chains and pushing up logistics costs.
Five days of intense fighting along the disputed border led to at least 38 deaths, mostly civilians, and the displacement of more than 300,000 people before a ceasefire was agreed on 28 July.
“The closure of the Thailand-Cambodia border meant all road transport stopped immediately, leading to significant logistical disruptions across multiple industries which rely heavily on the cross-border supply chain,” explained Air Cargo Service (ACS) Singapore CEO Brendan Toomey.
“Just-in-time manufacturers especially started to run up costs, meaning they needed to find alternative solutions quickly to maintain operations and prevent shutdowns.
“Several customers came to us for cargo charter flights and at first there was a lot of automotive cargo that needed to move, sometimes 100 tons at a time. But we started receiving requests for consolidated cargo flights for goods from multiple industries.
“To date we have arranged almost 100 charter flights between the two countries, carrying over 5,000 tons of cargo between Bangkok and either Siem Reap or Phnom Penh in Cambodia. This is another example of aircraft charters really proving their worth in extreme situations.”
The border clashes saw businesses rush to activate contingency plans, raising concerns of soaring transport costs and delays.
With direct land access cut, they were left with two options in addition to air: a land route from Thailand to Cambodia via Laos, significantly longer and more costly; and a maritime route via Thai ports such as Khlong Yai, Khlong Toei and Laem Chabang, then onward to Sihanoukville in Cambodia.
A delivery route that previously spanned 500km now stretched to 1,500km, tripling the transport costs, which forced many Cambodian buyers to source products elsewhere and caused some Thai manufacturers to delay shipments or suspend operations – particularly for factories in Cambodia reliant on Thai raw materials.
Trade between Thailand and Cambodia posted year-on-year growth of 3.3% in the first half of this year, reaching a total value of just over $2.93bn, according to figures published by Thailand’s commerce ministry yesterday. But Arada Fuangtong, director-general of Thailand’s Department of Foreign Trade, warned that the border clashes could impact growth in the second half of the year.
She said: “This could lead to a reduction of approximately 1% from Thailand’s overall 2025 border and transit trade target, which was initially projected to grow by 3%.”
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