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Published on August 6, 2007

Emerging almost two de-cades ago as Kerry Siam Seaport, the group has been a serious force in the logistics and supply-chain management businesses in Thailand for five years.

Somchai Kaewmanee, assistant general manger of Kerry Distribution (Thailand), said since Kerry's Thai units have grown rapidly in the same direction as the group's global revenues in the past few years, the plan is to further penetrate the domestic logistics market.

Kerry Logistics received global revenue of 6.32 billion Hong Kong dollars (Bt27 billion) last year, jumping from HK$481 million in 2000. The group also expects its revenue to reach HK$7.21 billion worldwide this year.

Somchai said that in Thailand Kerry posted around Bt1 billion in revenue last year, expecting it to grow by 30 per cent to Bt1.3 billion this year. Of this about 50 per cent was from distribution and warehousing, 35 per cent from logistics, and the rest from seaport and other activities.

The Kerry Group is 28-per-cent owned by Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok and his affiliates, who have majority stakes in other businesses such as property development, shipping, finance services, commodities trading, plantations and media. It focuses on four main service areas: logistics, ports, distribution and freight. The remaining stake is held by Thai business owners in sugar and trading industries.

The Kuok group holds a significant share in businesses such as the Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts chain, Kerry Media, Perlis Plantations Bhd, SCMP Group, South China Morning Post, Jerneh Insurance and Transnile Group.

Somchai said Kerry has exploited the joint-venture strategy to rapidly expand its business. "We don't need to start from zero, as our strategic alliances are already strong in the market," said Somchai.

Kerry Group has a presence in North Asia, China, South Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States. It operates businesses under joint ventures Kerry-Talke Chemical Logistics and Kerry Wincaton in Europe as well as Kerry Lynden Logistics in the US.

Somchai said Kerry in Thailand would consider the establishment of any joint venture with strategic partners whenever a window of opportunity opens.

In Thailand, Somchai said, the Kerry Group now provides one-stop services, with deep-sea port facilities, an inland container depot (ICD), a distribution centre and a free-trade zone in a compound at Laem Chabang.

Kerry's ICD is the only inland container depot in Laem Chabang port area, covering 52 rai. It can store up to 150,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit containers (TEU). It sells services such as packing and re-packaging, export LCL consolidation, container storage, repair, cleaning, fumigation, reefer services and on-site customs clearance.

Last year, Kerry Siam Seaport expanded its deep-sea port to become the largest private terminal at Laem Chabang, with capacity of four million tons of bulk goods and 500,000 TEUs per year. With a quay 1.2 kilometres long and water 14.5 metres mean sea level deep, the port can accommodate eight multi-purposed ocean vessels simultaneously.

Kerry has 23 warehouses with 80,000 square metres of storage capacity.

Kerry Logistics (Thailand) operates one logistics centre with 14,480 square metres, accommodating both general and bonded warehouses in the compound. Somchai said the logistics centre would also focus more on serving clients in consumer and home appliance areas apart from industrial products, which are mainly in the automotive industry. Main clients are Toyota Tsusho, Bosch, BMW, Siam Mitsui, Gocco and HP.

Somchai said Kerry Distribution (Thailand) last year expanded its market sector to express services and established more distribution hubs in Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Surat Thani, Hat Yai, Phuket, and Udon Thani. It has more than 200 vehicles, including motorcycles, pickup trucks, 4-wheel, 6-wheel and 10-wheel trucks and trailers.

He said it would expand into cross-border distribution services to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and China. It is now preparing for upcoming business when the R3 road, connecting the country's northern areas to southern China, including Burma and Laos, is complete in 2009.

"No one knows how big the business side will be," said Somchai. Kerry Group, however, has over 50 years' experience in China and Asia. It has a head office in Hong Kong and more than 200 representative offices in 26 countries, with more than 6,000 employees worldwide. It has more than 12 million square feet of warehousing areas, one million square feet of rail terminal, 3.5 million square feet of seaport area, 400,000 square feet of container-yard area and more than 3,000 vehicles.

Sasithorn Ongdee

The Nation

Chon Buri