BANGKOK– The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) heavily affects the operators of inter-provincial buses and cargo trucks in Thailand and the sector needs immediate help.
Kruawan Wongrukmit, chief executive officer of Nakhonchai Air Co, said the passengers of her company dropped by about 20% and she had no idea how long the situation would continue.
“If the outbreak reaches its third stage, impacts will be worse. If the situation continues, operators will have to cut costs,” she said.
Reduction in costs concerning personnel would be the last resort and it would be designed to minimize impacts, such as the reduction of workdays and leaves without pay on some days, Ms Kruawan said.
Thongyu Khongkhan, chief advisor to the Land Transport Federation of Thailand, said shipments from China to Thailand completely stopped and overall demand for logistic transport fell by about 20%. Operators had liquidity problems, especially those concerning their truck instalments.
He said operators needed immediate help from the government including soft loans to allow them to repay short-term debts, infrastructure projects to create jobs for workers, border trade promotion to boost regional transport, and relaxed regulations that would help operators cut costs.
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