Thai transport twist: No chinese takeover in the fast lane, says DLT

The Department of Land Transport (DLT) dismissed media reports suggesting Chinese companies are increasingly taking over struggling Thai transport businesses, emphasising that licences issued to one business cannot be transferred in the event of a takeover.

“More importantly, only Thai legal entities registered and headquartered in Thailand are eligible to hold the licences.”

The DLT clarified that at least 51% of a business’s shareholders must be Thai for it to operate legally.

Next week, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance will address concerns that Thai citizens are being paid to hold shares to circumvent this rule.

They will collaborate to develop better measures to regulate these foreign companies in disguise and ensure they cannot gain any advantages over local Thai business operators, the DLT release noted.

Regarding the presence of numerous Chinese lorries in Thailand, the DLT stated that vehicles from any country are allowed to be used in Thailand, provided they are legally imported and meet all related requirements for use in the transport sector.

Currently, over 8,400 vehicles produced in China are registered for use in Thailand’s transport sector. Many of these vehicles were assembled by a Chinese car maker with a production base in Thailand, according to the DLT.

The DLT also emphasised its commitment to following the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the six countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), including Thailand, in 2016. This agreement on the Early Harvest Implementation of the Cross-Border Transport Facilitation Agreement (CBTA) has been extended to December 31, 2026.

The DLT added that this agreement benefits Thai transport operators.

To date, 11 Thai companies have applied for licences to operate a total of 458 trucks under this regional agreement. They expect to begin operating on September 1.

On Saturday, a source in the private passenger transport sector revealed that many Chinese companies are negotiating to take over more Thai passenger transport businesses.

With about half of the Thai operators having gone out of business, these Chinese operators are eager to enter the market. They see introducing more electric vehicles as one of several measures that could return the sector to profitability, said the source, reported Bangkok Post.