Bangkok Regains Its Bustle
Bangkok Regains Its Bustle
Having survived the toughest challenge yet, Bangkok movers have relished getting back to full throttle with the final removal of pandemic restrictions. New challenges remain, but the most agile firms are thriving. Andrew Mourant from FIDI reports.
A warm welcome to Bangkok! Described by Paul Ware, General Manager of Asian Tigers Thailand and 25-year resident, it is ‘an ever-growing and changing city. an assault on the senses. sight, sounds, smells, and energy that are second to none’. This will undoubtedly be a memorable event. Bangkok, Thailand’s hyperactive capital, is going to host the upcoming annual FIDI conference.
Ware has seen all: floods, military putsches, political cleavages, and demonstrations. Rising costs coupled with cuts in foreign investment have made a post-pandemic recovery quite the challenge for Bangkok. Come October 1st, the last of the movement restrictions will be lifted; thus, marking a vital milestone regarding the city’s recovery.
Knowing that the hotel and hospitality industry has woken up in Thailand, which is important to the economy, is great. The path taken by the government encourages new inward investment in electric vehicle production. Large numbers of global brands, along with their supply chain partners, have been based in the automotive manufacturing area around Rayong, often referred to as the ‘Detroit of the East.’.
The Asian Tigers (AT) celebrate their 50th year of trading in 2023. Ware praised his staff, particularly the frontline crews, for keeping the business afloat during the pandemic. “As we shifted to working from home, our technology platform allowed everybody to continue to function,” he said. “Virtual surveying became the norm – we continue to use it to allow customers to have a survey at times that suit them.”
Since returning to the office, AT has adopted flexibility as a way to manage commutes in this crowded city. Unlike most countries in Southeast Asia, Thailand’s restrictions were not as hard; thus, companies like Asian Tigers have been able to stay in operation.
Moves for manufacturing companies, diplomatic missions, and NGOs are huge for AT. The biggest accounts belong to the US Embassy and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, or UNESCAP. “We have a multiyear contract for moving/storing their office compound buildings during their ‘seismic’ retrofit,” Ware explained. AT’s commercial division also specializes in hotel and retail refit/storage requirements.
The pandemic created fluidity, hitting hard on business operations for companies like Asian Tigers. It was difficult to manage the surge in demand during this pandemic era, coupled with securing space from airlines and shipping lines, which has become highly challenging. Added to this is the surging freight rates.
Fortunately, increasing ocean freight prices and challenges in securing shipment space persist up to this day. Improving space availability and freight rate conditions in 2022 have brought operations closer to normal.
Ware says customers with employer-paid cash allowances paid significantly higher freight rates, which meant delays and further charges at destination ports. “Our office staff deserves medals for dealing with these challenges as customers vented their frustrations,” he says.
Ware also points out operational staff is hard to come by and sums up his experience with operational employees from Generation Z, which prefers to work digitally. “For office staff, we’re fortunate to have a core that’s been with us 20 plus years,” he says. He looks to attract new hires by bringing fresh ideas into the business; specifically, he is interested in digital marketing and web-based lead sources.
Looking ahead, successful Thailand movers will be financially stable, attracting the best young employees and adapting to the changes. The LTR visa introduction is to give high-quality potential expats a means of residing in Thailand, promoting it as a regional hub to live and do business. “This can only be good news for the country’s moving industry,” Ware concludes.
You can check the interview on the FIDI page.
