JIFFA Report

8

2021

FIATA General Meeting Approves Two New Association Members,
Appoints New Chairmen for Logistics and Security Units
The International Federation of Freight
Forwarders Association (FIATA)
convened its 2020 annual General
Meeting online to prevent the spread ofcoronavirus infections. On behalf of
JIFFA, Executive Director and SecretaryGeneral Hisanao Kawachi attended themeeting, which was held at 12:30-14:00
on Dec. 7 Central European Time.

owns was used, under which
votes
were
countedimmediately. As a consequence,
two freight forwarders The participants
associations from Turkmenistan ‘gathered’ on Zoom
and Iran were welcomed as newmembers. The other items on
the agenda were also approved
smoothly.

President delivers opening remark

Two associations join FIATAFIATA President Basil Piertersen gave
the opening address at the online
conference, at which he stressed that it isimportant for freight forwarders totransport vaccines without a hitch, as
inoculations have begun in the midst of
the coronavirus pandemic.

The two new national
associations are: the Turkmen Logistics
Association (TLA) and the Transport andLogistic Federation of Iran (TLFI). The
TLA was created in Ashgabat,
Turkmenistan, in 2018, following asignificant increase in the volume of
freight and passenger traffic in the
country. With more than 100 members,
the TLA seeks to improve the governanceand export capacity of transport andlogistics companies in Turkmenistan andaround the world. Established in 2015,
the TLFI is a set of business organizations
promoting the position and role of thelogistics private sec- tor in Iran. TLFI
consists of ten unions, associations,institutes and active employer formationsin the domain of international road, air,marine, port, rail transportation andlogistics, passenger transportation,
aviation, Iran touring, customs and otherrelevant services.
The newly appointed chairman of the
FLI is Stephen McDermott of theCanadian International Freight
Forwarders Association (CIFFA) and Niels
Beuck of the Bundesverband Spedition
und Logistik (DSLV) chairs the ABSS.

President Basil Piertersen

AgendaAfter the presidential message, theonline conference was proceeded with inaccordance with the following agenda.
1) Approval of the minute that FIATA
agreed on at its World Congress in CapeTown, South Africa in 2019;2) Approval of the admission of two
new association members;3) Approval of a financial statement
for fiscal 2019;4) Approval of a budget report for
fiscal 2021;
5) Approval of a new lineup of FIATA
executives; and6) Election of the chairpersons of the
FIATA Logistics Institute (FLI) and theAdvisory Body on Safety and Security(ABSS)At the online general assembly, aunique internet voting system that FIATA

Special guest speaker
One of the high points of the General
Meeting was the intervention of Adam
Roark, Worldwide Transportation andLogistics Industry Lead at Amazon Web
Services. With more than 35 years ofexperience in the supply chain industry,
Mr. Roark shared his analysis of the main

2021

SummerJapan

International

Freight

Forwarders

Association INC.

4F, Across Shinkawa Bldg. Annex, 16–14, Shinkawa 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104–0033
Telephone 81 3 3297 0351 Facsimile 81 3 3297 0354
URL http://www.jiffa.or.jp
Issued in September 2021

JIFFA Activities Focus on Enhancement in Education, Training Programs
Chairman Watanabe Unveils FY2021 Business Plans at General Meeting

trends, as well as the challenges andperspectives of such a vibrant industry.
He addressed the General Meeting in arecorded interview with FIATA
Headquarters.

Mr. Adam Roark

Mr. Roark covered a wide spectrum of
topics that have a direct impact on how
the supply chain evolves nowadays. He
identified data as a key asset that needs
to be better streamlined by all supply
chain organizations. Digitalization has
also been defined as a key enabler, sincebusiness stakeholders need to be better
integrated into a more technologicalapproach, to allow for greatercollaboration and information sharing.
The FIATA intends to hold its next
World Congress in person in Brussels,
Belgium in October 2021.

JIFFA convened its 10th annual
general assembly at a hotel in Tokyo on
June 10, 2021, attended byrepresentatives from 364 of its 506
regular member freight forwarders. The
meeting approved fiscal 2020 (April
2020-March 2021) activity andfinancial reports as well as a fiscal 2021
business plan and budget report.
Fiscal 2020 began when thecoronavirus pandemic, which was firstdetected in China at the end of 2019,was escalating and ended in the midst ofa state of chaos. For its part, JIFFA took
some major steps toward digitalization,
introducing a teleconferencing system
and launching the provision of online
seminars. Through these efforts, it is now
qualitatively and quantitatively upgrading
its services as well as enlarging thegeographical reach of its services.
In fiscal 2021, JIFFA will contribute to
the development of international
logistics while working closely with
relevant governmental ministries andagencies of Japan as well as relevant

domestics and overseas privateorganizations. It hopes that compatriot
freight forwarders will continue to dobusiness appropriately in sustainableways and cope with ever-changing
demand and environments to provide
better services. To this end, for example,
the association will hold more online
seminars for members in remote areas,
while making utmost efforts to preventthe spread of COVID-19 infections.
JIFFA Chairman Junichiro Watanabe
gave an address at the general assembly,
which is described below.
I can only say that fiscal 2020 was astormy year. Japan’s GDP shrank 4.6%
from the previous fiscal year, which was
greater than the decline registered in theyear when Lehman Brothers Holding
went bankrupt and the largest decreasesince the end of World War II. Logistics
was another field of business thecoronavirus pandemic gave devastating
damage to.
In oceangoing transport, we witnessed

General Assembly

Chairman Watanabe’s opening address

with our own eyes the unprecedented
disruption of maritime container carriage.
As a result of meetings held between
JIFFA and the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism(MLIT), the government of Japan issued astatement in February to ask shippers,
shipping companies and logistics service
providers to secure space for shipments
to and from Japan. In April, governmentalorganizations convened a joint online
meeting for relevant parties to share
information to address the issue of(continued on page 2)

JIFFA Report

2

2021

Webinar Held on Post-Brexit Logistics Scene in UK
Lecturer Discusses What Forwarders Need to Know
The Forwarding and International
Exchange committees jointly held andlive-streamed an online seminar for
employees of JIFFA member freight
forwarders in March 2021. Lectured by
Mr. Mikio Tasaka, a research fellow fromNittsu Research Institute and Consulting,
Inc. (NRIC), the webinar introduced thelatest information on the U.K. withdrawal
from the EU and discussed what is goingon in logistics.

that it is required to obtain Economic
Operators Registration and Identification(EORI) numbers for business operatorsand individuals that export and import
goods to and from the EU. He also
focused on the tariff system of the U.K.
(U.K. Global Tariff), the introduction of
the UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA)
marking and the rules and regulations onplaces of origin having to do with thepreferential duties between the U.K. andthe EU.


    

Check if you need to follow this process

Step 2:

Get your business ready to import and Check the
Check the rules for exporting your goods
business sending you the goods can export to the UK
Decide who will make customs declarations andtransport the goods

Check if you need to follow this process

Get your business ready to export

Find out the commodity code for your goods
andWork out the value of your goods
Find out if you can delay or reduce your duty
payment

Decide who will make export declarations andtransport the goods

Step 6:Check if you need a licence or certificate for yourgoods

Prepare the invoice and other documentation foryour goods

Step 7:Check the labelling, marking and marketing rules

Get your goods through customs

Step 8:

Get your goods through customs

Keep invoices and records

Step 4:
Step 5:

Step 9:Claim a VAT refund

Step 10:

If you paid the wrong amount of duty or rejected thegoods

Step 11:

Keep invoices and records

Classify your goods(continued from page 1)

JIFFA Activities Focus on Enhancement in Education, Training Programs
container shortages. Participants agreed
at that time to tackle the issue by
combining the efforts that they weremaking respectively.
In such surroundings, total volume of
NVOCC shipments that JIFFA-affiliatedfreight forwarders imported to andexported from Japan in fiscal 2020
amounted to 112.51 million tons,
topping the 110-million-ton line for the
fourth year in a row. From the previous
fiscal year, however, the total waned
5.6%. In the first half, there was acontraction of 16.7% year on year, thegreatest reduction ever, but in thesecond half, throughput turned upward
to enjoy an improvement of 6.7% from 

Step1:

Step 3:Customs clearance procedures havenow been necessary in supply chains
between the U.K. and EU economies since
the U.K. left the EU single market on Dec.
31, 2020. Mr. Tasaka, then, gave alecture on the three-step measures that
London implemented on Jan. 1, April 1
and July 1 to ease its import formalities,
which have since been extended throughFebruary 2022 at the longest. He said

At the end of his lecture, Mr. Tasaka
referred to recent media reports. The
U.K.-EU trade has been unexpectedly
brisk since the Brexit, he said. However, if
London lifts its import formality easing
measures, it could lead to graduallycausing confusion due to increases inlabor, time and costs, he added. He also
explained that the EU’s customs act
applies to Northern Ireland, a part of the
U.K. For these reasons, the NRIC
researcher concluded that it is very
important to continue to keep an eye on
future Brexit impacts.

       

Mr. Mikio Tasaka Online

JIFFA Report

the corresponding six months of theprevious fiscal year.
Our membership is growing slowly. As
of June 1, we had 507 regular membersand 26 supporting members (15enterprises and 10 organizations) for a
total of 532, an increase of 13 from ayear earlier.
As for business activities, we will
advance projects to support thedevelopment of human resources evenmore strongly through providing
education programs and workshops. Last
year, we took major steps forward indigital technology, as we successfully
held online language courses and various
other seminars. We will continue this

fiscal year to actively promote e-learning
programs and online workshops andother events.
Also, we are determined to contributeto the development of the industry. To
this end, we will work even harder topromote the JIFFA MT B/L and JIFFA
Waybill and interact with theInternational Federation of Freight
Forwarders Associations (FIATA), otheroverseas organizations and relevant
domestics associations.
This year, JIFFA marks its 40th
anniversary. It is thanks to support fromour members that we have been inbusiness constantly for as long as 40
years. I hope they will continue tosupport and help us in years to come.

3

2021

JIFFA Members’ Cargo Volumes Get Stormy in Fiscal 2020
Plunging 16.7% in H1, Coming Back to Increase 6.7% in H2
autumn to the end of 2020 andremained brisk in 2021.
Exports in the second half of fiscal
2020
In the second half of fiscal 2020,
exports of international multimodal cargofrom Japan increased 9.1% from a year
earlier to a total of 24.565 million R/Ts.
From the first half, they rebounded
sharply and marked an improvement of
34.6%. By destination, those to China
turned positive, ending up surging 25.1%
to 5.105 million R/Ts. On the other
hand, those to the U.S. diminished, going
down 9.5% to 2.814 million R/Ts, but
managed to finish in second place.
Coming in third, exports to Europe hiked
1.6% to 1.877 million R/Ts. Soaring
14.1% to 1.617 million R/Ts, those to
Thailand climbed two spots from sixth tofourth. Exports to Vietnam rose 5.4% to1.556 million ton but fell by a
（1,000 revenue tons）
notch to fifth place. In terms of
63,50864,00062,428 62,450
TEU, shipments to China
62,00060,516amounted to 239,255 TEUs,
60,000up 7.2%, enjoying the largest
Total
58,000share of the pie on this scale as
56,000well. Those to the remaining
56,69254,000four destinations of the top five
52,000are described as follows.
51,99150,000
Exports to the U.S. came to
48,000117,155 TEUs, down 6.1%; to46,000Europe, 83,622 TEUs, up
44,000
Import
1.5%; to South Korea, 80,015
42,000TEUs, down 2.4%; and to
40,000 38,966 38,374 38,548
Thailand, 75,994 TEUs, up
38,00035,951
7.5%.
36,000
Imports in the second half of
34,00034,185 33,745
fiscal2020
32,000
Imports of international
30,000
Exportmultimodal cargo to Japan
28,000came back and picked up 5.2%
26,000 24,542
24,054 23,902
24,565year on year to 35.951 million
24,00022,507
R/Ts in the second half of fiscal
22,00018,2462020. By destination, those
20,000from China jumped 13.9% to18,00018.045 million R/Ts, reaching
0
FY2018FY2018FY2019FY2019FY2020 FY2020
1H
2H
1H
2H
1H
2H
the top position. Ranked
Apr 2018 Oct 2018 Apr 2019 Oct 2019 Apr 2020 Oct 2020
Sep 2018 Mar 2019 Sep 2019 Mar 2020 Sep 2020 Mar 2021
second were those fromyear on year
+10.0%
+7.7%
-1.7%
-9.2%
-16.7%+6.7%
Vietnam, but quantitatively,
in total

JIFFA-affiliated freight forwarders
hauled a total of 51.991 million revenue
tons (R/Ts) of international multimodal
cargo to and from Japan in the first half offiscal 2020 (April-September), down
16.7% from the corresponding six
months of the previous fiscal year. It was
the greatest shrinkage ever due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, which began
adversely impacting freight movementfrom early days of the fiscal year. Exports
accounted for 18.246 million R/Ts, down
23.7%, and imports, 33.745 million
R/Ts, down 12.5%. In the second half
(October 2020-March 2021), in
contrast, shipments to and from Japan
turned upward, swelling 6.7% to 60.516
million R/Ts in total. They returned to an
upward trend in summer, gained
momentum when growth in demand
accelerated in the peak season fromthey declined 5% to 3.077 million R/Ts.
Imports from Europe were also sluggish,
sliding 6.4% to 2.411 million R/Ts andcoming in third place. Those fromThailand, in contrast, ballooned 10.4% to2.392 million R/Ts, hitting the number
four place. Shipments from the U.S.
remained in fifth place, which declined
5.3% to 1.903 million R/Ts. On a TEU
scale, imports from China amounted to853,319 TEUs, up 29.3%; from
Vietnam, 120,362 TEUs, down 5.8%;
from Europe, 108,512 TEUs, up 2.9%;
from Thailand, 92,738 TEUs, down
2.4%; and from South Korea, 85,253
TEUs, down 13.1%.
Total of exports and exports
The total volume of exports andimports that JIFFA members handled in
October 2020-March 2021 exceeded
the 60-million-ton line for the first time inthree halves, increasing 6.7% from
October 2019-March 2020 to 60.516
million R/Ts. It was the second-largest
volume for a second half, after the 62.43
million R/Ts registered in October 2018March 2019. Individually, 23.151 million
R/Ts were traded to and from China, up
16.2%, accounting for the greatest partof the total. In second place, international
multimodal shipments to and from the
U.S. waned 7.9% to 4.717 million R/Ts.
They were followed by those to and from
Vietnam, which decreased 1.7% to 4.633
million R/Ts. Finishing in fourth, those to
and from Europe contracted 3.1% to4.288 million R/Ts. At the bottom of the
top five were those to and from Thailand,
which enjoyed a double-digit
improvement of 11.9% to total 4.01
million R/Ts. The lineup of Japan’s Big Five
trade partners and their ranks both
remained unchanged. In TEU terms,
exports to and imports from China
totaled 1,092,574 TEUs, up 23.7%; toand from the U.S., 192,671 TEUs, down
8.3%; to and from Europe, 192,134
TEUs, up 2.3%; to and from Vietnam,
181,482 TEUs, up 0.5%; and to andfrom Thailand, 168,732 TEUs, up 1.8%.
Fiscal 2020 (April 2020-March
2021)(continued on page 4)

JIFFA Report

4

2021

JIFFA Report

The course was taught by Mr.
Masaharu Nozawa, who joined theprogram in fiscal 2020 as a new lecturer.
He focused on basics and fundamentals,
following the lecture style created by Mr.
Masashige Yamada, who was responsible
for the course until the previous fiscal
year. Mr. Nozawa gave lectures
passionately,
rememberingallparticipants’ faces, although they wererequired to wear masks on designatedseats.
The Language Training Committee
hopes that all of the students will makethe most of the language skills theyacquired from the course in their daily
business routines.

Language Training Committee Has New Instructor
For Practical English Correspondence Course
The Language Training Committee held
its fiscal 2020 Tokyo practical English
correspondence course over a long
period of time from September 2020 toFebruary 2021. As a coronavirus state of
emergency was declared during theperiod, the last four classes scheduled in
January and February were given partly
online. The committee held an end-ofcourse examination on March 2 andgraded performances on March 22, at
which successful examinees and highgraders were selected. Usually, thecommittee invites high graders tocommendation ceremonies. In fiscal
2020, however, certificates ofcompletion were directly sent to thesuccessful students to keep coronavirus
inspections from expanding.

Mr. Masaharu Nozawa

contrast, those from Vietnam went down
7.9% to 5.991 million R/Ts; from
Europe, down 8.3% to 4.971 million
R/Ts; from Thailand, down 3.4% to4.308 million R/Ts; and from the U.S.,
down 10.7% to 3.773 million R/Ts. The
results highlighted the steadiness ofimports from China.
On a TEU basis, exports dropped 7%
to 1,840,717 TEUs; on the other hand,
imports rose 2.5% to 3,020,219 TEUs.
Imports from China and Europe bothmarked double-digit increases of 11% on
this scale, and they contributed to theoverall growth. The total volume ofexports and imports, however, decreaseda slight 1.3% to 4,860,936 TEUs

(continued from page 3)

JIFFA Members’ Cargo Volumes Get Stormy in Fiscal 2020

On a full-year scale, JIFFA freight
forwarders moved a total of 112.505
million R/Ts of international multimodal
cargo to and from Japan in fiscal 2020,
sinking 5.6% from the previous fiscal
year. Although remaining on a downward
trend and sliding from a year earlier for
two consecutive terms, the total managed
to weight more than 110 million R/Ts forthe fourth year in a row. In breakdown,exports accounted for 42.812 million
R/Ts, down 7.7%, and imports, 69.694
million R/Ts, down 4.2%.
The leading destination of exports
from Japan was China, to which 9.199

million R/Ts were carried, up 9.8%. As for
those to other major destinations, 4,901
million R/Ts were exported to the U.S.,
down 24.7%; 3.391 million R/Ts to
Europe, down 14.5%; 3.002 million R/Ts
to South Korea, down 3.2%; and 2.732
million R/Ts to Thailand, down 4.3%.
Exports to China were the only traderoute on which growth was obtained in
freight movement from the previous year,
as the country had enjoyed economic
recovery earlier than others.
Meanwhile, imports from China, theleading source of those to Japan, climbed
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5

2021

Forwarding Committee Debuts 113 Qualified International
Multimodal Transport Specialists for FY2020
The Education Committee held its
annual courses for qualifying
international multimodal transport
specialists in Tokyo on Oct. 6-Nov. 24
and in Osaka on Oct. 21-Dec.3, 2020.
The courses were both divided into 10classes provided on a total of 10 days.
To prevent the spread of coronavirus
infections, the committee cut by half thenumber of students it would accept infiscal 2020. Preventive measures were,
however, fully taken. When attending theclasses, for example, the students were all
required to wash their hands and checktheir body temperatures. In classrooms,
where educational and other materials
were disinfected with alcohol, one desk
was prepared solely for one student.
The courses were enrolled by 73
students in Tokyo and 40 students in
Osaka. The total of 113 attendees took
unified end-of-course examinations inTokyo and Osaka on Dec. 16. They all
passed them, becoming new international
multimodal transport specialists. The

highest score marked was 95 points, andthe average, 78.2 points. The 113
increased to 6,191 the total number ofinternational multimodal transport
specialists that JIFFA had produced.
The Education Committee held aceremony for granting certificates ofcompletion on March 24 at JIFFA’s head
office in Tokyo, inviting students withhigh grades from the Tokyo and Osaka

Two of the Top Performers with Chairman Watanabe (front row)

Intermediate Chinese Language Course Completed
Eight Participants Get Through Final Examination
The Language Training Committee
started its fiscal 2020 intermediate
Chinese course on Sept. 15, 2020. Dueto the coronavirus pandemic, theprogram was given to a smaller group ofnine students. After the course ended on
Dec. 22, a qualification examination washeld on Jan. 19, 2021. When the

Ms. Fan Tingting

courses. As some participantes could not
make it for certain reasons, the ceremony
was attended by two.
JIFFA Chairman Junichiro Watanabe
conferred certificates of completion andcommemorative gifts to the twoceremony attendees. “Although we werein a very difficult condition this fiscal year
due to the coronavirus pandemic, I hope
those who passed the examination will
make the best of what they had achieved[through the course] in daily businessroutines,” he said.

committee picked up top performers
from eight participants who had passed
the exam, the program was completed.
Measures were taken to control the
spread of coronavirus infections; forexample, the nine students were all
required to monitor their bodytemperatures and submit healthchecklists every time they attended class.
With passionate lessons given by Ms. Fan
Tingting, it was a rather high-level
program, where the students had to holdconversation lessons from the beginning,as it was an intermediate course. The
government of Japan issued a state of
emergency declaration in Tokyo andseveral surrounding prefectures inJanuary 2021. As such, the committee
gave up holding a ceremony for
conferring certificates of completion.
Instead, they were sent directly to those

who had passed
the
final
examination.
The Language
T r a i n i n g
Committee
received thefollowing
Ms. Yoko Furutono
feedback fromMs. Yoko Furutono, one of the top
performers. “The introductory-levelcourse that I attended [last time] beganwith pronunciation lessons. However, theclassed that I participated in this time
were commenced with conversation
lessons, in which the lecturer announced
topics, and each of us said things freely
about them. Also, several students gave
presentations on the previous week,
while others asked questions about them.
We had a variety of lessons other thangrammar elements from textbooks. All of
the two-hour lectures came to an end
too soon.

JIFFA Report

6

2021

Public Relations Committee Conducts Online Workshop on
Basic Understanding of Maritime Transport of Dangerous Goods
In the international maritime transportof hazardous materials, shipments could
initiate chemical reactions while moved
on board ships, triggering fires andcausing devastating damage to ship hulls
and/or other on-board commodities. As
there have been such accidents
frequently, it is necessary to exercise
utmost caution when handling dangerous
goods. To help JIFFA member freight
forwarders carry hazardous items safely
by sea, the Public Relations Committee
held and live-streamed an online
workshop on Feb. 2, 2021. Mr. KazuhikoNonomura of Nippon Kaiji Kyokai(ClassNK) lectured to participants somebasic knowledge they are advised to havewhen transporting dangerous materials
by sea.
Mr. Nonomura, who is a manager at
the Research Team under theclassification society’s Safety andTechnology Department, began thewebinar by giving a briefing on
international and domestic law systems
governing the carriage of hazardous
commodities.

U.N. Orange Book

Rules and Application
There are two major frameworks ofrules governing the carriage of dangerous
goods, which are domestic regulations
and international standards, said Mr.

Nonomura. To international rules, Japan
has added unique rules. Whentransporting hazardous materials
internationally, there are common basic
rules even though they are carried bysea, land or air. They are the United
Nations Recommendations on theTransport of Dangerous Goods (alsoknown as the UN Orange Book). As
they are only recommendations, they
are not legally binding. Based onthem, UN specialist agencies andothers have devised rules for different
modes of transport.
For example, the International
Maritime Organization (IMO) havedeveloped shipping rules, while those
for aviation has been developed by
the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO). For overlandtransport, the UN Economic
Commission for Europe (UNECE) havedrawn up rules for road transport. For
railway transport, rules have been
established by the Intergovernmental
Organisation for International Carriage
by Rail (OTIF).
What is the IMDG Code?
The International Maritime Dangerous
Goods (IMDG) Code is the set of rules
for the international maritime transportof dangerous items by sea.
The code was developed from Chapter
VII’s Part A of the International
Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea(SOLAS Convention) and Annex III of theInternational Convention for thePrevention of Pollution from Ships(MARPOL 73/78). The conventions
both indicate that specific rules andregulations comply with the relevant
provisions of the IMDG Code, meaningthat it is the basic rule for transport
hazardous items internationally. Japan
has ratified both conventions, and assuch, words from the code areincorporated in the rules and regulations
for the transport and storage of
dangerous goods by sea of the Ship

JIFFA Report

Safety Act.
The IMDG Code is a set of rules foreach part of transport flows. They are
divided into seven parts, Part 1 (General
Provisions, Definitions and Training) toPart 7. First, confirm whether or notcommodities to be transported areclassified as dangerous goods with Part 2(Classification). If they are, checkrequirements to follow with Part 3

Mr. Kazuhiko Nonomura(Dangerous Goods List and Limited
Quantities Exceptions). When containers
to be used are decided on with Part 4(Packing and Tank Provisions), find out
appropriate labels with Part 5(Consignment Procedures). Part 4 andPart 6 (Construction and Testing of
Packagings, Intermediate Bulk Containers(IBCs), Large Packagings, Portable Tanks,
Multiple-Element Gas Containers(MEGCs) and Road Tank Vehicles) areboth chapters of rules for container
safety tests. Part 7 (Provisions
Concerning Transport Operations)consists of rules for loading, segregations
and other unique features of maritime
transport.
Mr. Nonomura explained a system ofsuch rules for transporting dangerous
items. There are various requirements
applied to the maritime transport ofdangerous goods. Giving many specificexamples of packaging, marks and labels,segregations, declarations of dangerous
goods and the carriage of dangerous
goods in limited quantities, he explained
flows of the transport of hazardous
materials in an easy-to-understand way.

7

2021

Forwarding Committee Digs into Logistics Scene in Myanmar
Through Its 2nd Webinar, Providing Up-to-Date Information
The Forwarding Committee arranged
an online seminar on Dec. 14, 2020 todiscuss recent developments in logistics
in Myanmar. It was a continuation of thesimilar events held in Oct. 7 and Nov. 9,at which cross-border transport between
Myanmar and Thailand as well as up-todate logistics affairs in Myanmar werestudied. Mr. Atsushi Bando from ATTS
Consulting Co., Ltd., who were
responsible for the last two sessions,
returned to the December seminar as
lecturer.
In October 2019, the governments ofMyanmar and Thailand reached anagreement on cross-border transport,
allowing registered trucks from one
nation to enter the other. In February
2020, Myanmar logistics service
provider Resources Group Logistics(RGL) actually conducted a cross-bordertrial, operating trucks from its fleet totransport shipments all the way to Laem
Chabang, Thailand. Mr. Bando supervised
the project on site and submitted areport to the government of Myanmar.

Logistics link between Yangon and
Mandalay
Mr. Bando began the online seminarwith a briefing on basic information
about Myanmar, such as geography,
major cities, trunk logistics routes andexport and import data. Then, he gave alecture on logistics in Yangon, theeconomic center of the nation. Using
pictures that he had taken when he wasin Myanmar, he delivered a slidepresentation on the Yangon River andport and harbor infrastructures along theriver; industrial parks, warehouses, inland
container depots (ICDs) and dry ports in
Thilawa and the greater Yangon
metropolitan area; and domestictransport (truck, railway and waterway
transport).
There are three means of transport tolink Yangon, the largest city in southern
Myanmar, with Mandalay in the north,which are trucks, railways and waterways,
said Mr. Bando. Yangon is some 600
kilometers away from Mandalay. There isan expressway between the cities, buttrucks are not allowed to travel.
Therefore, Route 1 is mainly used togo back and forth. Most services
leave one end of the route in the lateafternoon and arrive at the other on
the following morning. Less-thantruckload (LTL) services are available,
but there is excessive competition in
the market, generating a price war.
Also, there are some dishonest
service operators. It is important, forthis reason, to pick up reliable
service providers from comprehensive
assessments, not just from prices offered,according to him.

Rail and river traffic
Twenty- and 40-foot containers canboth be moved by rail, which excluded
high-cube containers, Mr. Bando stated.
A total of 27 wagons (54 TEUs) is
maximum at one time. Basically, only bulk
cargo can be accepted. Transport
services from one dry port to another are
operated by RGL and Kelly Logistics.
In domestics waterway transport,
cargo loading and unloading activities are

performed by humans, said Mr. Bando.
Rice and other primary products aremainly transported. Container carriage
by barge is only available among
terminals at the Port of Yangon.

Yangon – Mandalay River Traffic

Trucks must travel some 460
kilometers on mountain roads from
Mandalay to Muse, a town located on
the border with China, said Mr. Bando. It
is a rough route with no tunnels andbridges. However, infrastructure
improvement projects are ongoing now.
It is scheduled that a viaduct will becompleted in a few years at the Gokteik
Pass, the hardest point to run on theroute. Thanks to the Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI) being promoted by
Beijing, cross-border transport to andfrom China is expected to grow notably
in the future.

Crossborder Trade : Muse and Myawaddy＃

To/From

Stations

2019/10/1 - 2020/9/30（Million Dollors）

2018/10/1 - 2019/9/30

ExportImport

Total

ExportImportTotal

3,032.59

1,836.11

4,868.70

3,156.42

1,761.55

4,917.98

China

112.7627.99

140.75122.8322.05

144.88CHIN SHWEHAW

China

424.95116.54541.49460.3681.23

541.594

KANPITETEE

China

262.3418.55

280.89264.11

32.34

296.455KYAING TONG

China/Thailand

2.89

2.15

5.04

6.99

1.53

8.52

6

TARCHILEIK

Thailand

68.21

73.93

142.14

20.11

77.51

97.61

7

MYAWADDY

Thailand

383.48819.23

1,202.71

211.49758.36969.858KAWTHAUNG

Thailand265.7494.78

360.52

175.22

38.88

214.109

MYEIK

Thailand

55.35

86.40

141.75121.48118.04239.52

10NABULAE/HTEE KHEE

Thailand

1,995.20

40.07

2,035.27

2,467.53

144.502,612.03

11

MAWTAUNG

Thailand

12.76

6.06

18.82

12.08

7.01

19.09

12

MESE

Thailand

2.48

0.30

2.78

1.14

0.32

1.45

13

SITTWE

India/Banladesh

432.55304.26736.81

12.98

1.25

14.23

14

MAUNG DAW

Banladesh

11.49

0.06

11.55

8.91

0.06

8.97

15

TAMU

India

40.55

1.04

41.59

95.39

1.28

96.66

16

RHI

India

48.86

2.03

50.89

82.12

22.47

104.5817

HTAN TA LAN

India

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

18

KENGLAP

Laos

0.41

0.00

0.41

0.02

0.00

0.02

7,152.60

3,429.50

10,582.10

7,219.17

3,068.37

10,287.54

1

MUSE

China

2

LWEJEL

3

Natural Gas

Natural Gas

TOTAL(Compiled by ATTS Consalting based on data of Myanmar's Department of Trade )