At the present moment there is no integrated transport or logistics system in
place in the region but various multimodal transport corridors are available to
users of the regional transport network. The smooth flow of freight within a
multimodal transport corridor will determine its success. The case of Laotian
garment exporters is taken to illustrate the point. The transport costs in this
study are based on offers that were obtained by transport service providers
such as freight forwarders, trucking firms, shipping lines, rail operators, port
authorities which operate on Lao PDR’s export routes. Prices quoted concern
the shipment of 1 TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) on a Freight All Kind
(FAK) rate. Existing alternative routes and modal combinations for the
movement of unitised freight between Lao PDR and Rotterdam in The
Netherlands are summarised hereunder in Table I and illustrated in Figure 2
(see Appendix for a more detailed map of each route).