PHNOM PENH: Container shipping in Cambodia and Vietnam had the lowest port turnaround times in ASEAN in June last year with both countries scoring averages of 0.9 days, the World Bank says.

In global logistics data released in Washington Friday, the bank said the findings were among new key performance indicators that complement its Logistics Performance Index (LPI) for 139 economies.

“The two categories of indicators provide a complementary yet consistent understanding of logistics performance,” the bank said.

But the new indicators — derived from Big Data covering containers, air cargo, and parcels — “are not yet included in the construction of the main LPI indicators” which are based on surveys.

Among other ASEAN members, Thailand had the second-lowest turnaround time of 1.0 days followed by Malaysia and Singapore (both 1.2 days), the Philippines (1.3 days), Indonesia (1.8 days) and Myanmar (2.0 days).

DIGITALISATION

In a statement, the bank said digitalization was allowing emerging economies to shorten port delays by as much as 70 percent compared to those in developed countries.

“While most time is spent in shipping, the biggest delays occur at seaports, airports, and multimodal facilities,” said Christina Wiederer, the World Bank senior economist who co-authored the report.

“Policies targeting these facilities can help improve reliability,” she said.

The bank said turnaround times were based on its own calculations and data from British transport economists MDS Transmodal Ltd.

AVERAGE OVERALL SCORE ‘BROADLY THE SAME AS 2018

Compared with their ASEAN peers, Cambodia and Laos ranked poorly in overall logistics performance with LPI scores of 2.4 out of 5.0 points.

At 4.3 points, Singapore was top-ranked, both within ASEAN and worldwide. It was followed by Malaysia (3.6 points), Thailand (3.5 points), the Philippines and Vietnam (both 3.3 points), and Indonesia (3.0 points). An index for Myanmar was not available.

Despite challenges such as Covid-19, the bank said logistics services were “broadly resilient” for best and worst performers worldwide.

“Even with the Covid-19 pandemic–induced disruptions to shipping and the global supply chain crisis, the average overall score in the 2023 LPI was broadly the same as in the last survey in 2018,” it said.

The LPI has six indicators — efficiency of customs and border management clearance, quality of trade and transport infrastructure, ease of arranging competitively priced shipments, competence and quality of logistics services, ability to track and trace consignments, and frequency of on-time deliveries.