TransAsia 2014 will be held for the very first time in February 2014 at Suntec City, the exhibition and conference mecca in Singapore. The event is modelled on highly successful exhibitions organised by ITE Group in Russia and the Caucasus.
ITE Group’s expertise in organising events for the transport and logistics sector is being utilised to establish a similar event of utmost relevance to the sector in the fast-growing ASEAN region. With developed economies like Singapore, those closing in on developed status such as Thailand and Malaysia, fast growing mass markets Indonesia and Vietnam, and the newly opened up economy of Myanmar calling ASEAN home, the debut of TransAsia 2014 comes at a highly opportune time for the region’s transport and logistics industry.

ASEAN markets are at various stages in the development of their transportation and logistics capabilities as evidenced by their rankings in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI). Singapore ranks first overall while Myanmar, which has recently opened up its economy to the outside world, ranks down in 129th place out of the 155 countries surveyed, behind Papua New Guinea and ahead of the Kyrgyz Republic. In between are fellow ASEAN countries Malaysia (29th), Thailand (38th), the Philippines (52nd), Vietnam (53rd) and Indonesia (59th).

Within the LPI, countries are ranked based on customs, infrastructure, international shipments, logistics quality and competence, tracking and tracing, and timeliness. Individual rankings for ASEAN countries reveal an urgent need to raise logistics quality and competence in particular. Singapore, for example, ranks only sixth globally in logistics quality and competence, and also sixth in tracking and tracing.