Cooperation between single third-party logistics provider and government for emergency disaster relief operations in Thailand.

Abstract

The planning of disaster relief operations is important for governments. These strategies are expected to reduce the impact on human lives and the economy during disasters and can be executed with the cooperation of third-party logistics to quicken disaster relief responses. In this study, we focus on investigating the importance of communication and the cooperation of government with third-party logistics providers to reduce the response time during disaster relief operations. In Thailand, although there are several third-party logistics providers, a large single third-party stands out owing to its availability of resources and distribution networks. We analyzed the effect of the disaster relief operations performed by the government in coordination with a single third-party provider for two sections of the disaster-relief logistics process: pretransport and transport. In our investigation, the inclusion of a third-party logistics provider during the transport process showed a reduction in response time irrespective of the scale of the disaster, along with a reduction in the supply saturation time for the required demand. The findings of this study suggest that the emergency response time during a disaster can be reduced in Thailand through the inclusion of a single third-party logistics provider. In addition, this study suggests an emergency response model for Thailand with the included third-party logistics to improve disaster relief operations.