Leading ‘Total Logistics Solutions Provider’ JWD, declared the positive growths posted for this year’s first two months in all segments, especially the automotive storage and management, cargo transport, cold storage, hazardous cargo warehousing and overseas businesses. It also announced plans to build one additional cold storage building at Mahachai, upgrade the cold storage at Bang Na, install additional rackings at the JCS centre to meet growing demands and add 40 vehicles to its JWD Express’s fleet to pursue further expansions.
Mr. Charvanin Bunditkitsada, Chairman of the Executive Committee and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of JWD InfoLogistics Public Company Limited (JWD), a leading ‘Total Logistics Solutions Provider’, revealed satisfactory performances in all segments over the first two months (Jan-Feb 2018), noting that the growths that continued since the fourth quarter of 2017 were driven by the growing customer base, more efficient service and rising logistics demands in line with the overall economic growths.
In the automotive storage and management segment, order volumes increased due to demands from both existing and new customers, including the venture managed jointly with Siam Motors Industries, and to the automotive industry’s overall growth outlook, as indicated by all automakers’ plans to increase car production. In the cargo transport segment, both domestic and cross border transport subsegments posted healthy growths. In the cold storage segment, the occupancy was near full at more than 57,000 sq m. The hazardous cargo warehousing segment benefited from more hazardous cargo containers at Laem Chabang port. As for the overseas warehousing operations in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia, great levels of demand for cold storage there drove the occupancy ratios to 80-90%. Its cold storage business in Indonesia, which was acquired jointly with Samudera late last year, was also on course.
The CEO added that, given the overall business growths, JWD is seeking to invest approximately THB 350 million in the construction of one more cold storage building (Building 8) with a total storage space of 4,300 sq m at Mahachai, which will be the first local cold storage facility to adopt an ultramodern robot technology (ASRS) from Japan to increase handling speed and partly reduce labour requirement. The construction is expected to begin early this year and end early 2019. The company is also working to transform its general warehouse in Bang Na into a 6,000 sq m cold storage to satisfy larger demands for storage space for frozen products.
The 4,700 sq m JWD Chemical Supply Chain (JCS) operations centre in Laem Chabang Port, Chon Buri, where JWD performs storage of chemicals and ancillary services (eg packing, sorting), also produced satisfactory results over the same two months. In response to the centre’s average utilisation rate of 84% over the fourth quarter of 2017, JWD is installing additional rackings that will raise the capacity by 150%, and the installation is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter. For JWD Express service, the company is moving to enhance its capability to serve large businesses and expand its customer base, aiming to increase the number of its transport vehicles (eg lorries, express transport lorries, refrigerated trucks) by about 40, to 361, by the end of this year.