Malaysia ranked 4th in emerging market logistics

SINGAPORE: Malaysia's drive to develop a world-class infrastructure and transport network propelled it to the fourth spot in a closely watched annual ranking of the world's 45 leading emerging markets.

Malaysia surged past Saudi Arabia (5), Brazil (6) and Indonesia (7), according to 2016 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index.

The index ranks emerging markets based on their size, business conditions, infrastructure and other factors that make them attractive to logistics providers, freight forwarders, shipping lines, air-cargo carriers and distributors.

"Malaysia has shown a sustained commitment to economic diversification and to its drive to develop and upgrade its infrastructure. It has world-class ports, airports, road and rail networks, industrial parks and technology parks," said Chris Price, chief executive officer, Asia-Pacific for Agility Global Integrated Logistics on Tuesday.

"It is going to lead the way as Asean countries continue to work toward economic integration," he said.

The Index is into its seventh year and offers a snapshot of the logistics industry sentiment among more than 1,100 global logistics industry executives.

China, the world's second-largest economy, remaind the leading emerging market by a large margin in the index.

At fourth placing, Malaysia trailed only China, United Arab Emirates (2) and India (3). Rounding out the top 10 were Mexico (8), Russia (9) and Turkey (10).

Only the United Arab Emirates ranked ahead of Malaysia in the area of the index that measured connectivity - infrastructure, transpsort links and customs efficiency. Malaysia's business climate ranked 10th in the Index.

Supply chain industry executives surveyed, as part of the index, placed Malaysia at number 10 among countries with the most potential to grow as a logistic markets.

Of the top 10, only Vietnam (5) has a smaller economy.

Agility is one of the world's leading providers of integrated logistics. It is a publicly traded company with more than US$4.8 billion in revenue and more than 20,000 employees in over 500 offices across 100 countries. - Bernama