Analysis of the efficiency of land transport connectivity for international trade between Thailand and China

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the efficiency of land transport connectivity for international trade between Thailand and China, focusing on the 4 main routes (R3A, R8, R9, and R12). The study commenced by taking the data of time, cost, and distance for transportation and border process of general cargo with 40 feet containers collected from field surveys and in-depth interviews of 126 key-informants from the 4 countries involved (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and China). The data are analyzed, and created the relationship graphics by Time Cost Distance Analysis to evaluate the efficiency of the linkage land transport routes on trade between Thailand and China to identify the bottlenecks/obstacles along the 4 routes. This study will support government agencies in policy decision-making to improve the efficiency of each route. The result found that R9 is the most efficient route due to the low approximate transport cost (3.39 US dollars/km.) and the highest approximate speed (44.52 km./hr.). It is also found that the average Border Process Cost of routes R9, R8, and R12 is approximately 40% of the Total Cost, while the average Border Process Time of each route is approximately 16–25% of the Total Time, which shows that the border process cost and time of each route is quite high compared to operations along the route. Therefore, the government agencies of these 4 countries should jointly formulate policies related to the Border Process in order to develop more efficient land transport connectivity for Thailand and China’s international trade.

Keywords

• Land Transport Connectivity
• International Trade
• Time Cost Distance Analysis