The Airports of Thailand (AoT) plans to set up a sister company to operate its centre for pre-export agricultural product inspection (Photo: www.bangkokpost.com) Bangkok (VNA) – The Airports ofThailand (AoT) plans to set up a sister company to operate its centre forpre-export agricultural product inspection, in an effort to attract morecustomers in China, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to help double its annual incomefrom cargo handling services.
The establishment of the new company will be completed in two months, while theproduct certifying centre at Suvarnabhumi airport will be open for service insix months after a new cold-storage facility is built for perishable foodproducts, Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, President of the AoT, was cited by localmedia.
Potential customers in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) haveexpressed strong interest in switching from Singapore to Thailand where theywill be offered a premium version of the export goods-certifying service, whichis more or less a VIP channel, he said.
These products will be exported first to Dubai and then Belgium before theywill be distributed onward to other destinations in Europe, he said.
The new centre will also benefit Thai producers of agricultural products asthey will find it more convenient to export their products with the assistance offeredby the centre, he said.
Currently, Suvarnabhumi airport handles 1.5 million tonnes of cargo per year,the 15th largest amount in the world. Of this amount, 150,000 tonnes areperishable goods.
And with the new centre set up, the airportexpects to earn up to 1 billion baht (32.37 million USD) per year in incomefrom cargo-handling services compared with the current 300-500 million baht ayear, Nitinai said.-VNA
