Nippon Express has recently commenced a new road transport service, called the Mekong Land Bridge Express, which connects Hanoi in Vietnam with Bangkok in Thailand.
The Mekong Land Bridge Express has been set up to transport sea freight between Hanoi and Bangkok over three days by utilizing the east-west corridor between Da Nang in Vietnam and Mawlamyaing in Myanmar, following the opening of the second Mekong bridge in December 2006, a company statement said.
It said that prior to the April launch of the new service, the main modes of transport between Hanoi and Bangkok were by air and sea, with door-to-door marine transport services taking on average 14 days. This new service, however, is expected to cut the lead-time substantially, to about one-fifth, using a land route, as well as reduce transport costs by using the newly completed SS7000 road transport route.
The release said: "We will also provide services incorporating containers with the same specifications as marine cargo containers to meet the demand for large-volume transport. In addition, we intend to start up consolidated services this summer to handle the transport of small-lot shipments."
Nippon Express has already been using the 7,000-kilometre-road network that connects Shanghai with Singapore, to facilitate the provision of its Star Night Express service between China's Huanan region and Hanoi, and the Oriental Land Bridge Express service between Singapore and Bangkok.
"The launch of this Mekong Land Bridge Express service opens the last remaining Thailand-Vietnam section of SS7000 and marks the completion of a long-haul transport route traversing six national borders," the company said.
"The need for a transport route linking China, Vietnam and Southeast Asia has risen sharply, and high expectations are held out for the Mekong River basin and the rest of Indochina as a growth market."
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