Established on 10 March 1987, Thai International Freight Forwarders Association (or TIFFA) was officially registered with the Department of Business Development (DBD), Ministry of Commerce (MOC) by the support of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) with 8 starting members. The first president was Mr. Som Pliansaneh and followed by Mr. Khlang Tantimongkolsuk. The first period of establishment aimed at implementing the capacity building programs in collaboration with United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). Several training programs for the related freight forwarding knowledge were disseminated to the freight forwarding industry sectors during that period. At present time, TIFFA is in celebration of the 36th years anniversary of its establishment and now approaching to the 37th year of more success and achievement.
At the initial stage, international freight forwarding activities were not well recognized and viewed as a kind of brokerage services from the perspective of government and private sectors. Through the continuous effort, TIFFA endlessly strived for developing the freight forwarding service standards to the higher level of acceptance from both government and freight forwarder service users.
During the leadership of our third president in 1992, Mr. Phongthep Tangpinitchit, TIFFA applied to become the member of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations or FIATA to take role and join international activities for higher level of recognition in the world of freight forwarders. As one of the key drivers for the establishment of ASEAN Federation of Forwarders Association or AFFA since 1991, AFFA was successfully established in 1993 with the representative of TIFFA for Thailand appointed as the Vice Chairman.
Later in the subsequent presidency of Mr. Somsak Wisetruangrot, the fourth president in 1994 started the initiative in setting up the group liability insurance to accommodate the TIFFA members for utilizing the FIATA Bill of Lading (FIATA B/L) according to the criteria of FIATA. During that period, our TIFFA members are lack of capability to source for freight forwarders’ liability insurance coverage on their own. The group liability insurance in Thailand was the first and one-of-a-kind liability insurance at the association level applicable to all TIFFA members. One year after, Thailand was elected to take the leading role as the Chairman of AFFA.
In 1996, while the freight forwarder industry was accelerating its growth in line with the booming economy in Thailand, the president, Mr. Somsak realized the necessity for the needs of human resource supply to the freight forwarding and international trade sectors. By the TIFFA’s board approval, International Transport Business School (ITBS) was then established in 1997 for the supply of highly qualified and well-trained personnel to the TIFFA members as well as the freight forwarding industry. Later in the same year, TIFFA sourced the funding for the project start-up of Trade Siam Co., Ltd. acting as a national gateway for the electronic data interchange or EDI in Thailand. The project interestingly attracted the founding members to join the initial investment and thereafter the TIFFA Co., Ltd. (TIFFA Co) was officially established as one of the main shareholders in Trade Siam Co., Ltd.
In the following year of 1997, Mr. Suwit Ratanachinda was elected as the new president and several success stories by setting up TIFFA affiliates or group of companies were drastically recognized:
The key objectives of having TIFFA group of companies were not only to support the freight forwarding operations in general but also aimed at supporting and enhancing TIFFA members to achieve the higher level of competitiveness in performing the freight forwarding and integrated logistics services as well as overall logistics cost reduction for international trade facilitation.
Other proven successes were also achieved during Mr. Suwit’s leadership and presidency including:
In 2012, Mr. Somsak was reelected to take another lead as TIFFA’s president. By the cabinet’s approval as proposed by the Ministry of Transportation (MOT), he was appointed as an international trade expert committee in the Maritime Promotion Commission.
Later in 2014, Mr. Kettivit Sittisoontornwong was then elected as the seventh president. TIFFA collaborated with the Thailand Professional Qualification Institute (Public Organization) or TPQI for establishing the professional qualification standard framework for international freight forwarders (IFF), Multimodal Transport Operator (MTO) and International Distribution Centers (IDC) for the TIFFA members to certify their human resource standard of knowledge and skills.
In 2018, AFFA established the AFFA Logistics Institute (ALI) to enhance the logistics knowledge in ASEAN countries. Mr. Somsak Wisetruangrot was officially elected to take the lead as the chairman of ALI.
Later in 2019, Mr. Witoon Santibunyarat was elected as the eighth president of TIFFA. By 2021, TIFFA officially launched the “TIFFA Mark” which is a recognition of high quality standard in performing the logistics services. TIFFA Mark comprises of 3 distinctive levels based on different criteria:
In the same year, TIFFA also joined the membership of World Logistics Passport (WLP) which is an international alliance unit set up by DP World. WLP is an international alliance of global trade and logistics network which bridges the international collaboration for trade and logistics connectivity.
In 2023, TIFFA by the leadership of Mr. Chalermsak Karnchanawarin, the ninth president officially signed the Distribution Agreement with FIATA for implementation of electronic FIATA Bill of Lading or e-FB/L. The group of integrated logistics collaboration was officially initiated for the digital signatories of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the Thailand International Logistics Fair 2023 (TILOG LogistiX 2023) by the 9 leading logistics federations and associations as follows:
This initiative was officially endorsed and supported by the Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP), the Ministry of Commerce (MOC). The integrated logistics group was then named as “1Logistics" with the aim to lead the logistics industry collaboration and enhance the competitiveness of logistics industry at the national level. The key slogan of 1Logistics is “One Vision, One Collaboration, One Future”.
In the late of 2023, TIFFA Logistics (2008) Co., Ltd. signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Spedition Sigma Co., Ltd. an appointed landlord by the Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) to be the operator of the Bangkok Port Free Zone (BKP FZ). TIFFA Logistics Center Co., Ltd. (TIFFA LC) was officially established in the same year for the new expansion of ICD dry port and warehouse operations in Lard Krabang. The targeted date of official opening is by the end of 2024.
The objectives of the TIFFA are as follows:
As of 22 November 2023, TIFFA has the total number of 245 members comprising of:
Privileges of TIFFA members
Thai International Freight Forwarders Association (TIFFA) is the member of government bodies, national and international federations, alliances and partners as well as academic sectors. Those are for example:
https://www.worldlogisticspassport.com/
[insert web site of DFA]
https://www.thaichamber.org/
Government bodies, private and academic sectors: -
7. Other government academic sectors
(The International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations)
(Asean Federation Forwarders Associations)
(Board of Trade of Thailand )