United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Transport and Tourism Division

The UNESCAP region is unique in its combination of economic and social development. Each country in this region has been developing healthy economic ties not only on a regional basis but also with those of other regions, mainly through maritime transport. The majority of countries have the geographical potential to establish and develop ports that would be viable logistics centres. However, despite the rapid industrialization and modernization of the port sector in this region, the sector has been inefficiently managed, over regulated, and constrained.

Recently, there have been many attempts in the ports of the ESCAP region to shift their emphasis from traditional cargo-handling services to value-added logistics services in order to remain competitive in the regional market.

The UNESCAP secretariat provides assistance to the ports in the region in developing strategies and plans to become regional or national logistics centres equipped with sophisticated logistics capabilities and innovative forms of logistics systems.

Recent publication in this area:

Commercial development of regional ports as logistics centres (2002)