JIFFA Report

8

2021

2021

1st e-Learning Seminar Held on JIFFA Transport
Terms and Conditions Judicial Affairs Committee
The Judicial Affairs Committee held
introductory courses on transport terms
and conditions in 2018 and 2019 in
Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo. To welcome
employees of member freight forwarders
from other municipalities as well, JIFFA
organized its first-ever online seminar in
July-August 2020.
The online seminar was designed tohelp attendees roughly understandtransport terms and conditions and use
them to learn relevant laws andregulations when they are on duly in the
future. The following subjects werestudied during the online class.
1) About the JIFFA Transport Terms
and Conditions;2) The Bill of Lading (B/L) and the Sea

Waybill;3) The responsibility and duty of thecarrier set forth in JIFFA Transport Terms
and Conditions;4) The responsibility of the carrier’s
employee (employer) and other parties
set forth in JIFFA Transport Terms andConditions;5) The responsibility andduty of the shipper set forth in
JIFFA Transport Terms andConditions;6) The delivery of the goods
set forth in the JIFFA Transport
Terms and Conditions.
The online seminar began on
July 8. Almost all of the 50
students completed the one-

Q 1: Which of the following documents does your company issue ?
(multiple answers are allowed)
22

JIFFA Multimodal B/L

32

JIFFA Waybill
JIFFA FCR
Does not issue transport
documents

JIFFA Guidebook forTransport Documents
JIFFA Handbook for Formulating/Issuing Transport Documents

11
9
3
0

Q&As for Freight Forwarders2   

Q 3: Which of the following is best to describe how well you rated
the JIFFA online seminar?
Not understood well: 2%

Q 2: Which of the following JIFFA publications have you ever read?
(multiple answers are allowed)

Standard Format for
Mutual Agent Contracts

23month program that ended on Aug. 7. A
survey was conducted after the seminar,
which indicated 98% of the attendees
had highly rated it, as they understoodthe subjects. The Judicial Affairs
Committee hopes that it will continue tohold ones regularly.

Easy Handbook for JIFFA FCR

6

Own B/L, Waybill and/or FCR

Fully understood: 8.2%
Not understood at all: 0%

Somewhat understood: 28.6%34


a little too difficult
to understand: 6.1%

Almost understood: 61.2%

Could have been
a little longer
: 2%



Very easy to understand: 14.3%

Japan

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 February 2021

International Freight Forwarders in Japan, China Join Forces
JIFFA and CIFA Conclude Memorandum of Understanding
Japan International Freight Forwarders
Association Inc. (JIFFA) and the China
International Freight Forwarders
Association (CIFA) reached agreement
online on Oct. 31, 2020 to conclude amemorandum of understanding (MoU)
to promote their respective association
activities and cultural interchanges
between them. Within a framework ofmutual cooperation and understanding,the partners will help each other ininternational freight transport, logistics
and custom clearance.
Since it is their intention tocollaborate in the development of theiractivity, both institutions consider it
convenient to strengthen their businesson international transport, logistics andcustoms ties and set up and develop
their relations within a framework ofcooperation and mutual understanding,to offer to the members, the benefits of abusiness and cultural exchange.

The two parties have agreed toestablish an institutional collaborationagreement in accordance with thefollowing:
1. To promote alliance strategies
between members of each association.
2. To share information about
international transport and logistics
rules and regulations and also customs
rules and formalities in order toprovide our member companies withthe development of their business.
3. To manage questions and/or technicaland logistics know-how between both
associated members.
4. To promote respect for good businesspractices among both associatedmembers.
5. To diffuse as much as possible thisagreement in both institutions in orderto favour and extend the co-operation
towards new fields.
6. The term of cooperation 5 years from

October 31, 2020 to October 31,
2025.The MOU shall enter into force
upon the signatures of both sides by
voluntarily in duplicate. The scanned
copy shall have the same effect as theoriginal. Matters not covered, to besupplemented after both sides
confirmed and communication.
The agreement was signed by Li
Zhimin Secretary-General, CIFA and
Hisanao Kawachi, Secretary-General,
JIFFA.
This agreement is not legally bindingon the institutions.
JIFFA has signed Memorandums ofUnderstanding (MoUs) with thefollowing partners so far:・March 2019: Lithuanian National
Association of Forwarders and Logistics(Lithuania)
・November 2019: ATEIA-OLTRA
Barcelona (Spain)

Too difficult to understand: 0%

Easy to understand: 51%

Q 6: Which of the following is best to describe how you felt about the overall
length of time from the beginning to the end of the online seminar?

Too long: 2%
Too short: 0%Q 4: Which of the following is best to evaluate the way the lecturer taught?

Neither easy nor difficult: 28.6%

Q 5: Which of the following is best to describe how you felt
about the lecture hours?

WinterWanted to have more time: 20.4%A little too long: 10.2%
Too short: 0%
Too long: 0%

A little too long: 30.6%
Appropriate: 65.3％

Appropriate: 69.4%

Mr. Li Zhimin

Mr. Hisanao Kawachi

JIFFA Report

2

2021

JIFFA Report

International Multimodal Shipments to/from Japan Lose Ground in H1 of FY2020
COVID-19 Pandemic Leads Japanese Forwarders to Record Negative Growth
The movement of international freight
to and from Japan slowed down notably
in the first half of 2020. In April-June,
Japan incurred a negative growth of
27.8% (annualized) in GDP, the largest
plunge since 1955, the year until which
statistics can be traced back. The
business had grown stagnant, as theoutbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID19) had placed many cities in the world
under a lockdown and urged Tokyo toannounce a state of emergency. Although
the economy has been picking up sinceJune, the combined volume of shipments
exported from Japan by JIFFA member
freight forwarders in the first half of fiscal
2020 (April-September) plummeted
23.7% from a year earlier to 18.246
million tons. Falling below the 20-millionton line for the first time in four years, it
was the second largest decrease after the（1,000 revenue tons）

64,00063,50863,42862,45062,00060,00058,000Total

56,00056,69254,00052,00051,99150,00048,00046,00044,00042,000 Import
40,000 38,966

38,37438,54838,00036,00033,74534,00034,18532,00030,00028,000 Export
26,000 24,542

24,05423,902

24,00022,50722,00020,00018,24618,0000 FY2018

FY2018 FY2019 FY2019 FY2020
1H
2H
1H
2H
1H
Apr 2018 Oct 2018 Apr 2019 Oct 2019 Apr 2020
Sep 2018 Mar 2019 Sep 2019 Mar 2020 Sep 2020year on year
+10.0%
in total

+7.7%

-1.7%

-9.2%

-16.7%

26.9% registered in the first half of fiscal
2009, the six-month term that came
immediately after the bankruptcy ofLehman Brothers Holdings. Meanwhile,
imports to Japan fell 12.5% to 33.745
million tons, suffering their first-everdouble-digit contraction. In total, exports
and imports sank 16.7% to 51.991
million tons, the greatest year-on-year
decline ever marked.
1) Exports
Oceania was the only destination towhich exports from Japan of international
multimodal shipments improved from ayear earlier in the first half of fiscal 2020.
More specifically, they surged 27.6% to634,000 tons. In contrast, the mostsignificant diminishment was marked inthose to India, which waned 64.5% to253,000 tons. Although India was the
13th leading destination in the first halfof 2019, it descended to 18th place.
Also, those to Indonesia, Canada andCentral/South America almost halved,
which dove 49.6%, 49.6% and 49.1%,
respectively.
Looking at exports to major
destinations, those to China only slid a
mild 4.7% to 4.094 million tons, as the
Chinese economy had returned to arecovery track earlier than others. As forother major destinations, exports to the
U.S. sank 38.5% to 2.087 million tons;
to Europe, 28.4% to 1.515 million tons;
to South Korea, 7.9% to 1.497 million
tons; and to Thailand, 22.5% to 1.115
million tons. The lineup of the top fiveremained unchanged from a year earlier.
The sixth and seventh export destinations
switched their positions. Taiwan moved
up to sixth place, to which 1.105 million
tons of containers were shipped, but
quantitatively, they contracted 11.5%.
Vietnam was demoted to seventh, towhich 1.055 million tons were exported,
down 25.7%. Finishing in eighth place,
exports to Hong Kong, which ranked
11th a year earlier. They weighed
812,000 tons, which dropped 10.3%

year on year. Those to Africa remained
unchanged at ninth, but in terms ofvolume, they reduced a significant 21%
to 759,000 tons. At the bottom of the
top 10 were exports to Oceania, which
improved from 16th place.
In terms of TEU, exports to China
totaled 207,914 TEUs, down 3.6%; tothe U.S., 98,447 TEUs, down 28%; toSouth Korea, 75,304 TEUs, up 4.5%; toEurope, 73,806 TEUs, down 17.3%; andto Taiwan, 57,577 TEUs, down 1.9%.
2) Imports
In April-September 2020, imports ofinternational multimodal shipments toJapan were not as sluggish as exports
from Japan. However, there were still
significant decreases in those from several
sources. For example, imports fromCentral/South America contracted asmuch as 64.2% from the corresponding
six months of fiscal 2019. Exports to andimports from the region both decreased
significantly. Those from India fell sharply,
too, going down 37.5%, although it was
not as stagnant as the decline in exports
to the nation.
Regarding imports from leading
sources, those from China abated 9.2%
to 16.756 million tons; from Vietnam,
10.8% to 2.913 million tons; from
Europe, 10% to 2.559 million tons; andfrom Thailand, 16.5% to 1.915 million
tons. The top four sources were remained
unchanged from April-September 2019.
Imports from South Korea waned 13.7%
to 1.904 million tons, but they managed
to climb to fifth place. In contrast, thosefrom the U.S. moved down to sixth place,sinking 15.6% to 1.87 million tons. The
same import sources filled in seventh,eighth places as a year earlier. In terms ofvolume, those from Hong Kong amounted
to 1.317 million tons, down 28.7%; from
Taiwan, 856,000 tons, down 10.1%; andfrom Indonesia, 842,000 tons, up 1.8%.
Hitting the No. 10 place, those fromother Asian countries and regions, which(continued on page 3)

3

2021

JIFFA holds English, Chinese courses
The Language Training Committee
launched its fiscal 2020 Chinese andEnglish courses in September 2020. Fullscale preparations are being implemented
to keep students from getting infectedwith novel coronavirus (COVID-19),
requiring them to monitor their bodytemperatures every time they attend
lectures, submit health check sheets atthe beginning of a new month, ventilatingclassrooms regularly and keep sufficientsocial distances from each other.

Lecturer: Ms. Fan Ting Ting
(continued from page 2)

came to 649,000 tons in total, up 4.2%.
Looking at imports from the Big Fivepartners on a TEU basis, those from
China stood at 706,956 TEUs, down
4.8%; from Europe, 116,275 TEUs, up
19.4%; from Vietnam, 113,690 TEUs,
down 7.6%; from South Korea, 91,217
TEUs, up 11.9%; and from Thailand,
87,109 TEUs, down 12.9%. Containers
from the U.S. finished in sixth place by aHeld for the first time in five years, theChinese course began in Tokyo on Sept.
15. Nine students attended a total of 15classes, the last one of which ended in
mid-December. Seven had taken
introductory-level courses and beenfamiliar with the lecturer, while theremaining two had both had much
experience of learning Chinese. The
classes were given every week for twohours from 18:30 until the final
examination was administered.
Meanwhile, the practical English
correspondence course was commenced
in Tokyo on Sept. 25 with a new lecturer,
Mr. Masaharu Nozawa. It was originally
going to be held in Tokyo during the firsthalf of fiscal 2020. The Language
Training Committee, however, refrained
from activities due to the novel
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic,
very small margin, which came to 86,762
TEUs, down 15%.
3) Total of exports and imports
Focusing on the top five partners,
exports to and imports from China went
down 8.3% year on year to 20.85 million
tons in total in the first half of fiscal
2020; to and from Europe, 17.8% to4.074 million tons; to and from Vietnam,
15.3% to 3.968 million tons; to andfrom the U.S., 29.5% to 3.957 million!      
%$#"!#



1 China
2 U.S.
3 S. Korea
4 Europe
5 Taiwan
6 Thailand
7 Vietnam
8 Hong Kong
9 Middle East
10 Malaysia
11 Latin America
12 Other Asia
13 Singapore
14 Indonesia
15 Philippines
16 India
17 Oceania
18 Africa
19 Canada
20 CIS$
207,91498,44775,30473,806
57,57755,64650,054
41,572
26,64921,954
20,392
20,326
18,47917,06016,191
13,116
10,787
6,530
6,296
6,171


 !



96.4 China
72.0 Europe
104.5 Vietnam
82.7 S. Korea
98.1 Thailand
75.4 U.S.
97.0 Hong Kong
91.5 Taiwan
60.1 Indonesia
54.4 Other Asia
65.5 Malaysia
100.9 Philippines
91.4 Singapore
64.4 Latin America
69.4 Canada
60.8 India
89.5 Oceania
85.3 Middle East
98.0 Africa
85.4 CIS  $

postponing it to the second half. The sixmoth course will continue until March
2021, at which the final examination will
be given.
Mr. Nozawa was in charge of theinternational shipping business at a global
logistics service provider. He wasstationed in London three time for a totalof 14 years. The Language Training
Committee hopes that students will
improve their English skills by learning
practical-level English from the newlecturer who boasts long-year overseas
experience.

Lecturer: Mr. Masaharu Nozawa

tons; and to and from South Korea,
11.2% to 3.401 million tons.
In terms of TEU, exports to andimports from China amounted to a totalof 914,870 TEUs, down 4.5%; to andfrom Europe, 190,081 TEUs, up 1.9%;
to and from the U.S., 185,209 TEUs,
down 22.4%; to and from South Korea,
166,521 TEUs, up 8.4%; and to andfrom Vietnam, 163,744 TEUs, down
6.2%.

    TEU

706,956
116,275
113,690
91,217
87,10986,762
57,57334,962
34,25225,54924,745
14,27011,788
11,698
6,818
5,959
5,529
3,650
1,441
854



95.2 China
119.4 Europe
92.4 U.S.
111.9 S. Korea
87.1 Vietnam85.0 Thailand
83.1 Hong Kong
93.9 Taiwan
97.5 Indonesia
101.5 Malaysia
92.7 Other Asia
79.9 Latin America
92.3 Philippines
94.3 Middle East
72.8 Singapore
70.6 India
70.0 Oceania
108.3 Canada
86.3 Africa
116.8 CIS $#$$914,870
190,081
185,209
166,521
163,744
142,755
99,14592,53951,312
46,69945,87532,09030,46130,29930,267
19,075
16,316
13,1147,971
7,025
 


95.5
101.9
77.6
108.4
93.8
82.1
86.4
96.5
83.3
69.6
101.2
73.7
74.0
63.5
91.8
63.6
81.8
83.1
85.5
88.2


JIFFA Report

4

JIFFA Members Projected to Account for Some 38%
In Overall Internodal Container Traffic to/from Japan
It is no wonder that JIFFA-affiliatedfreight forwarders are curious about theirposition in the industry, in other words,
how much NVOCC-handled shipments
account for in the entire volume of those
moved on container ships. As such, JIFFA
has calculated the shares that its
members hold on trade routes on a TEU
scale, based on 2019 data provided by
global data service providers, such as
CTS, IHS, both from the U.K., and others,
as well as statistics from the Japan
Maritime Center (JMC). Althoughcontaining some estimates, their shares
can help have an overview of the NVOCC
market.
Most significant in the table below isthat Hong Kong enjoys considerable
shares in both exports and imports. Hong
Kong has long been prospering as a free
trade port and as a place to attract
people, goods and money. In terms oflogistics, it has been acting as a gateway
in South China to carry seaborne andairborne cargo to mainland China. For thisreason, logistics is an important industry
there, accounting for as much as 25% of
the overall value of production.
Although Hong Kong is just a small
administrative region, more than 300
freight forwarders crowd together. On
logistics, therefore, they have a great

JIFFA Report2021

influence, meaning that shippers depend
heavily on them. NVOCCs hold a
combined share of some two-thirds inshipments to and from Japan.
To put it the other way around,however, transport contracts directly
concluded by beneficial cargo owners(BCOs) only account for one-third.
Although handled via Hong Kong, there
are many shipments that are virtually
moved to and from mainland China,
making it very difficult to accurately
estimate the quantity of Hong Kongorigin cargo. It is important, for thisreason, to take a look at those to andfrom mainland China at the same time.
In respect to exports to othercountries and regions than Hong Kong,JIFFA member forwarders enjoy a
combined share of some 40% in those to
the U.S. As for shipments to China, South
Korea and Taiwan, they hold shares of
35% to 39%. Looking at those to
Southeast Asian nations, excludingIndonesia and the Philippines, they haveshares of around 40%. In Southeast Asia,
NVOCCs are most dominant in exports
to and imports from Vietnam.
Accounting for roughly half the market,
they boast a share of 43% in the former
and 46% in the latter. Although China is
the largest market for NVOCCs, but they

only have a share of 38% in exports tothe nation. It may look a little too small,but in imports from China, they have astronger presence, enjoying a share of48%.
Focusing on the market shares that
NVOCCs hold in shipments to and fromadvanced economies, they account forsome 40% in exports to the U.S., butthey only have a share of 25% in imports
from the nation, meaning that threequarters of booking are make directly byshippers. They only hold shares of 20%
to 29% in both exports to and imports
from Europe, indicating that bookings arebasically made by non-JIFFA affiliatedenterprises.
Overall, NVOCCs hold shares ofaround 38% in both exports and imports.
Their shares were slightly less than 10%
in the 1980s and exceeded 30% in
2011, according to estimates made by
the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism (MLIT) andmarket insiders. As such, their presencesin exports and imports have both grownby 10% in every 10 years. If
containerships continue to be larger insize in the future, it is expected that
dependence on NVOCCs will increase
accordingly. Shippers have an advantage
of being able to benefit from value-added
services. It is projected, for these reasons,that NVOCCs will continue to enlarge
their shares in the years to come.

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

5

2021

Judicial Affairs Committee Organizes Digital Forum on
FMC Regulations on International Container Shipping
The Judicial Affairs Committee held an
online seminar on Sept. 11, 2020 todiscuss the regulations that the U.S.
Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) had
imposed on seagoing shipments to andfrom America. The event was scheduled
for an earlier date in Tokyo but
postponed due to the novel coronavirus(COVID-19) outbreak. A lecture wasgiven by Mr. Mikio Tasaka, a research
fellow from Nittsu Research Institute andConsulting, Inc. (NRIC), who had been in
charge of shipping management in the
U.S. for a long time. In advance to theseminar, a video had been shot at a JIFFA
conference room to record his lecture
and made available later on YouTube for
employees of affiliated freight forwarders.
It was the first seminar on the FMC
regulations to be organized by JIFFA
since 2014. Several revisions have been
made that are important to the freight
forwarder and the non-vessel-operating
common carrier (NVOCC). In 2018, forexample, it was no longer necessary to
file the NVOCC Service Arrangement(NSA) or the Negotiated Rate
Agreement (NRA) with the FMC. Also,
the forwarder and the NVOCC no longer
needed to publicly announce such
documents to the federal agency. In
consideration of these deregulations, theonline seminar was held to focus on thefollowing contents:
1) Transport of the cargo by sea toand from the U.S. governed by the
Shipping Act
1-1) Publication of the tariff, which
includes copies of the general terms andconditions as well as other transport
documents, required by the
Shipping Act;
1-2) Service contracts (SCs)that are concluded between
shippers and common carriers;
and1-3) NSAs that are signed
between the shipper and the
NVOCC.
2) FMC as the guardian of
the Shipping Act
Mr. Tasaka gives lecture for video-recording
2-1) History of the FMC;

Guidebooks Released for Revised Standard Trading
Conditions And Forwarder’s Cargo Receipt
The Judicial Affairs Committee has
released guidebooks for Standard Trading
Conditions (STCs) and JIFFA Forwarder’s
Cargo Receipt (FCR).
STCs are standard terms andconditions for freight forwarders to clarify
relations with customers when accepting
jobs. The Judicial Affairs Committee
instituted ones in 2010, which have since
been used by affiliated freight forwarders.
JIFFA has taken a variety of actions topromote JIFFA Standard Trading
Conditions (2010) at workshops and onother occasions. However, social
conditions and business environments
surrounding freight forwarders havechanged much more drastically than
expected at the time of establishment. As
such, voices have been raised suggestingthat the conditions be adopted to2-2) FMC’s missions and strategies;2-3) FMC and the Shipping Act; and2-4) Case studies on prohibited
conducts that could be subject to the
FMC crackdown.
3) FMC crackdown on the carrier
3-1) Actual case of the FMC
crackdown3-2) Strict punitive clauses
The online seminar was viewed bysome 110 people. The contents werehighly useful and important to employees
of affiliated freight forwarders who are
now engaged in NVOCC operations toand from North America and those whoare planning to launch such operations.
They all highly rated the seminar.

today’s society. The committee, then,decided to revise them in October 2017and began full-scale discussions. After
spending three years reviewing theconditions, it established new standards
in 2020 and published the guidebook.
When discussions on JIFFA Standard
Conditions (2020) were reaching a final

New FCR form

phase, the world was unexpectedly hit
hard by the novel coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic. The Judicial Affairs
Committee, therefore, began exchanging
views urgently on it and decided for the
future to add the pandemic and epidemicof contagious diseases as well as crises inpublic health as factors that exempt
freight forwarders from liability.
JIFFA reviewed JIFFA FCR at the sametime, which is the set of general terms andconditions set forth on the back of JIFFASTC (2010), and after a series of
discussions, came up with a new FCR. The
association, as such, completed a
guidebook for using the new FCR. It is
written in Japanese and English. The
Judicial Affairs Committee hopes that it
will be used extensively by employees offreight forwarders who are engaged in
trading busines outside Japan, too.
The new FCR took effect on Oct. 1,
2020.

JIFFA Report

6

JIFFA Report

2021

Webinar on Myanmar-Thailand Cross-Border Transport and Logistics
Attracts More-than-expected Audience Craving for Up-to-date Information
The Forwarding Committee held an
online logistics seminar on Oct. 7, 2020
to discuss cross-border transport
between Myanmar and Thailand and to
introduce up-to-date logistics affairs in
Myanmar. As member forwarders arehighly interested in logistics in Myanmar,
where the local economy is growing
rapidly, there were more people wanting
to attend the seminar, which only had acapacity for 100 attendees. As such, thecommittee organized a similar event on
Nov. 9. Mr. Atsushi Bando from ATTS
Consulting gave lectures at the classes.
Having signed a contract with local

Mr. Bando delivers lecture online

logistics service provider Resource Group
Logistics (RGL), he was stationed in
Yangon, Myanmar in October 2019. He
was then in charge of cross-bordertransport and international businessservice development. Due to the novel
coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak,however, he was temporarily in Japan
when the online seminars were given. An
outline of his lectures is as follows.
Myanmar boasts a population of

52.88 million and a per-capita GDP of
US$1,298. In 2018, it accomplished an
inflation-adjusted economic growth rateof 6.7%. Among ASEAN member nations,
Myanmar is now attracting great
attention, following other members thatare moving ahead, such as Thailand,
Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. Having
a huge national land area and a big
population, it is expected to growconsiderably in the future. It mainly
trades with China and Thailand, which issituated next to Myanmar.
Mr. Bando held discussions on crossborder transport between Thailand andMyanmar, using the slides and video thathe produced when he directed truck
transport in February 2020. Beginning inYangon, the project passed Myawaddy, atown in Myanmar located on the borderwith Thailand, and Mae Sot, a city in
Thailand sharing a border with Myanmar,
both of which are on the East-West
BorderMyawaddy

Mae Sot

Transhipment

Non-transhipment
(TAD)

2021

JIFFA Participates in Logistics Internship Programs
On Internet to Help College Students’ Job Opportunities
JIFFA participated in internshipprograms for the logistics industry
organized by the Japan Association for
Logistics and Transport. It gave briefings
to students at an online job fair on Aug.
22 and at an in-person session in Osaka
on Aug. 24, 2020.
Held jointly by JIFFA and Hankyu
Hanshin Express Co., Ltd. (HHE), theinternet session was viewed by some
130 students, and the Osaka session, bysome 110 students attended. Seminars
were given at both events to help
students become more interested in thefreight forwarding industry. In the firsthalf of the seminars, Mr. Hisanao
Kawachi, Executive Director andSecretary-General of JIFFA, gave a lecture
on freight forwarding and international
multimodal transport. In the second half,
HHE spoke of customs clearance,
introducing examples of transporting

pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.
The attendees were encouraged to learn
more about and feel the appeal of freight
forwarders.
Many of the students attending theseminars had clear objectives. For
example, they want to do businessglobally, are interested in customs
clearance, would like to become engaged
in international logistics, and so forth.
They worked very hard throughout the
programs. JIFFA intends to continue topromote activities to develop humanresources.

Dry port ( Pictures by Courtesy of RG Logistics and Kerry Logistics)

Cross-border Transport
Yangon7

Through transit

Bangkok・LCB

Economic Corridor. Having driven as longas 985 kilometers, it finally reached
Laem Chabang, an international seaportin Thailand, without making any
transshipment.
When transported by sea between
Myanmar and Thailand, shipments need
to be moved along the Malay Peninsula,meaning that they must travel some
3,500 kilometers. Therefore, it takes as
many as 14 days to transport cargodoor-to-door from Yangon to Laem
Chabang. When carried overland, in
contrast, freight from the Myanmar city
can reach the Thai port in a much shortertransit time of four to five days.
Cross-border transport can be carriedout between the Southeast Asian
economies in two ways. In one way,containers need to be transshipped
between Myanmar and Thai trucks, whilein the other way, they do not. When they
are moved without transshipment,
however, there are several rules andregulations to follow. No declarations are
required for drivers and vehicles when
shipments are transshipped, but whennot, declarations are necessary wheneverthey cross the national border. Also,
drivers must obtain a visa. In the nontransshipment system, furthermore,routes and destinations are limited. As
such, shorter transit times and lower(continued on page 7)

Mr. Kawachi delivers lecture on freight forwarding

Group session by Hankyu Hanshin Express

Group session on pharmaceuticals

Main hall session

Webinar on Myanmar-Thailand Cross-Border Transport(continued from page 6)

costs than the transshipment system are
not as advantageous. It is also necessary

to take note that rules and regulations in
Myanmar are stricter than those in
Thailand.

Thilawa SEZ （by courtesy of Thilawa SEZ Management Committee）

In cross-border transport, rates formoving 40-foot containers are higher by
as much as $700 per unit than those inseaborne transport, regardless of whether
they are transshipment or not between
Myanmar and Thailand.
Bando said in his presentation thatfreight rate standards could change when
there are more shipments handled
between the economies in the future. He
also pointed out that it is, therefore,
necessary to work together with local
logistics service providers to develop andimprove services.