• No longer “just” the manufacturing centre for the world, Asia Pacific is now becoming a growing domestic market and as such, international companies are expanding into this region to focus on this trend.
• China is the centre of this “New Asia” and as low based manufacturing exits China, it is moving to such countries as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and what is termed “frontier markets” of Myanmar and Bangladesh. This shift in manufacturing has resulted in changes in supply chain requirements.
• These changes in supply chain requirements have helped to further increase intra-Asia trade including the revival of the famed Silk Road route connecting Asia Pacific with the Middle East and East Africa.
• ASEAN Economic Community, a union of ten Southeast Asian countries, is set to become a single economic entity in 2015. Its impact could potentially shift regional economic power away from China and towards Southeast Asia.
• Long dependent on trade with the European Union and the US, Asia Pacific trade patterns are shifting towards other regions such as South America and Africa.
• Ti forecasts that by 2017, Asia Pacific will account for over one third of the global contract logistics market. The overwhelming reason for this is the €11bn of growth that the Chinese contract logistics market is predicted to experience, more than half of Asia Pacific’s total growth over the period.
• Asia Pacific leads the rest of the world with the biggest growth rate for the express and small parcel market. For 2013, the market grew 13.0%. This growth can be attributed to not only manufacturing/exports but also the growing intra-Asia trade as well as the rise in e-commerce.
• From 2013 to 2017, Asia Pacific will likely expand its share in the global freight forwarding market while Europe and North America will see declines. This shift in market share is due to the increasing importance of emerging markets which are expected to develop further over the next few years.
• Considerable investment in infrastructure projects continues throughout the region to meet the needs of both domestic, cross-border and international needs.
• Logistics providers are expanding their presence in Asia Pacific via acquisitions or organic growth. New services such as multi-modal or e-commerce focussed solutions are increasingly being introduced.

David Buckby

30^th September 2014, Bath, UK: Asia Pacific has shed its label as being known simply as a major export region and now offers a variety of opportunities for shippers and logistics providers alike. Indeed, this evolution has been underway for quite a while and the logistics impact of this region is being felt within individual Asian countries, regionally and around the world.

Ti’s 2014 Asia Pacific Transport & Logistics report provides an unparalleled analysis of this region’s evolving transport and logistics requirements by country, logistics provider as well as by logistics market.

While China remains the focal point for much of the region’s logistics activities, infrastructure projects – port and airport expansion, road and rail extension and modernized warehousing – are on the rise in such countries as Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar. These country-specific projects are creating attractive options for shippers and logistics providers alike. In addition, these projects are also linking to neighbouring countries and ultimately to China to create a unique but intricate supply chain that further enhances the region’s supply chain capabilities and thus attractiveness for shippers and logistics providers.

As a result of this expanding regional supply chain model, Asia Pacific is expected to account for over one-third of global contract logistics activity by 2017.

Even though its intra-regional supply chain model is growing, the region still remains a vital export region and as such trade lane dependence on Europe and the US is loosening as it looks to other regions such as Africa, the Middle East and South America to expand relations. However, Europe and the US remain important trade partners and as such, logistics providers are expanding transportation options to fulfill demand for these lanes by incorporating multi-modal options such as air/sea and truck/rail solutions. These growing modal options will help increase the use of freight forwarding and as such, Asia-Pacific will see its share of the global freight forwarding market grow from 32.3% in 2013 to 35.9% by 2017.

Logistics opportunities are indeed expanding and as expansion continues so too does this region’s influence on the global supply chain. For example, the highly anticipated ASEAN Economic Community will result in a single economic entity in 2015 also, increasing trade pacts such as the potential Trans-Pacific-Partnership and free trade agreements with individual countries will influence the global and regional trade balance. To understand how is to understand the Asia Pacific transport and logistics market.

For more information about the report please contact Michael Clover.