Air Cargo Charter Demand Soars as Thai-Cambodia Border Closure Halts Road Freight

Boeing 747 being loaded in Bangkok, Thailand (Photo: AirCharterService / Phaata)

Demand for air cargo charters between Thailand and Cambodia has surged in recent weeks after the border between the two countries was closed due to fighting.

The company Air Charter Service (ACS) said it has been "exceptionally busy" over the past month, having arranged almost 100 charter flights carrying approximately 5,000 tonnes of cargo.

Brendan Toomey, managing director of ACS Singapore, said: "The closure of the Thailand-Cambodia border meant that all road transport stopped immediately, leading to significant logistical disruptions across multiple industries which rely heavily on the cross-border supply chain."

"Just-in-time manufacturers especially started to run up costs, meaning they needed to find alternative solutions quickly to maintain operations and prevent shutdowns."

"It was at this point that several customers came to us for cargo charter flights as a solution to the headache. At first there was a lot of automotive cargo that needed to move, sometimes 100 tons at a time, but soon after we started receiving requests for consolidated cargo flights consisting of goods from multiple industries."

Toomey said the flights were arranged in both directions, operating between Bangkok in Thailand and either Siem Reap or Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

Border restrictions between the two countries have been in place since June following armed clashes between the two nations that broke out in May.

On Monday, officials from the two countries began four days of talks aimed at ending the conflict.

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Source: Phaata.com (According to Air Cargo News)

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