News / Delays expected as ASEAN ports reopen to shipping after floods

South-east Asian ports are resuming normal operations this week, a fortnight after being lashed by heavy rains and flooding not seen in centuries.

Thailand’s Songkhla port, where 335mm of rain, the highest single-day fall in 300 years, landed on 21 November, is restarting regular shipping access today.

French line CMA CGM’s Songkhla office said it had resumed accepting bookings.

Forwarding group Geodis’ regional MD for Southeast Asia, Lakshmanan Venkateswaran, told The Loadstar that recent severe flooding in southern Thailand, particularly in the Songkhla and Hat Yai areas, caused significant disruption across land transportation, with road closures, border congestion and temporary equipment shortages, resulting in longer transit times for road freight.

Mr Lakshmanan said: “The flooding situation escalated rapidly, and sea freight was not a viable option due to its longer transit time. Under normal circumstances, road transport on this route takes only three days door-to-door. As a result, many companies with urgent or critical shipments redirected their volumes from road to air freight, leading to a significant surge in demand for air capacity to and from Thailand.”

A massive volume of goods is trucked between Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. In 2025, 296.32bn tonne-kilometres of goods are projected to be trucked along this route, said Mr Lakshmanan.

Mr Lakshmanan continued: “During the two to three days where road operations were impacted by severe flooding, we saw a significant surge in shipments being converted from road to air freight.”

Ship agency GAC stated that there could be a slowdown in crew transfers at Songkhla airport. It said: “Operations are expected to be at a reduced capacity with low activity. However, transportation from Songkhla city to the airport is suspended due to impassable roads.”

It  added: “Hat Yai International Airport is still operational.”

Kuehne + Nagel (K+N) said that on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the northern part also received heavy rain and Belawan port remained heavily waterlogged; and while the gateway was gradually resuming operations, several ships remain delayed in reaching the port.

The forwarding group said: “Logistics and trade activities are significantly affected, with customer-side transport constrained and many delivery routes inaccessible.”

In Malaysia, where the heaviest rains were limited to the north-west state of Perlis, K+N said that there was berth congestion and vessel bunching in Port Klang, with ships waiting more than a day to berth.