“Just put me on Bangna-Trad” is what every prospect says. But Bangna-Trad is a 50+ km road. The difference between Km 23, Km 38 and Km 46 is the difference between a 35-minute drive to Bangkok and a 75-minute drive to Bangkok. It changes your operating economics.
This is the corridor guide we walk every prospect through on their first site visit.
The three main warehouse zones on Bangna-Trad
Km 23 (Bang Phli / Bang Bo) — closest to Bangkok
Drive to Bangkok CBD: 30-35 minutes off-peak, 60+ minutes peak
Drive to Suvarnabhumi airport: 15-20 minutes
Drive to Laem Chabang port: 90 minutes
Best for: E-commerce same-day Bangkok fulfillment, air freight forwarders (Suvarnabhumi-bound), Bangkok-based F&B distribution, last-mile parcel sortation.
Trade-off: Higher land cost (closer to Bangkok = more expensive). Warehouse rates here run 175-205 THB/sqm/month — 10-15% higher than mid-corridor. Tight supply, fast turnover.
Km 38 (Bangpakong / KT Thai Property) — the sweet spot
Drive to Bangkok CBD: 45 minutes off-peak, 70 minutes peak
Drive to Suvarnabhumi airport: 30 minutes
Drive to Laem Chabang port: 50 minutes
Drive to Amata City Chonburi: 25 minutes
Drive to Pinthong Industrial Estate: 30 minutes
Best for: Manufacturers serving multiple zones (Bangkok customers + Chonburi suppliers + Laem Chabang exports), 3PLs running multi-client operations, SMEs needing the EEC label without paying the deep-EEC premium.
Trade-off: Not the closest to anything specific. But equidistant means you serve more use cases without prohibitive drive time to any one. Rates run 158-182 THB/sqm — the corridor mid-point. This is where we operate.
Km 46 (Bangna-Trad far end, near Chonburi border)
Drive to Bangkok CBD: 75 minutes
Drive to Suvarnabhumi airport: 50 minutes
Drive to Laem Chabang port: 30 minutes
Drive to Amata / WHA Eastern Seaboard: 15 minutes
Best for: Manufacturers tightly integrated with Chonburi industrial cluster (Amata, Pinthong, WHA), Laem Chabang import/export operators, Tier-1 auto suppliers serving plants in Rayong/Chonburi.
Trade-off: You give up Bangkok proximity entirely. Same-day Bangkok delivery is hard from here. But if your customer base is Chonburi/Rayong manufacturing, you save on supply chain time. Rates run similar to Km 38 (~160-180 THB/sqm) but with more large-unit availability.
The decision frame: where are your customers?
Forget the brochure ratings. Answer one question: where do your goods need to go?
- Bangkok customers (B2C, F&B, e-commerce) → Km 23
- Mixed: some Bangkok, some Chonburi, some export → Km 38
- Chonburi manufacturers, Laem Chabang exports, EEC supply chain integration → Km 46
What changes the answer
Traffic. Bangkok traffic adds 30-40 minutes to any Km 23 route at peak. If your delivery runs are 7am or 9pm (off-peak), Km 23 is fine. If your runs hit 10am-noon Bangkok inbound, you may as well be at Km 38.
Truck size. 18-wheeler container chassis cannot easily navigate inner Bangkok. If you are moving full containers, location near a motorway interchange matters more than proximity to Bangkok proper.
Workforce. Km 23 has a denser labor pool. Km 46 you may need to bus workers from Chonburi. Factor this into operating cost.
Flood history. Different sections of Bangna-Trad have different flood profiles. Km 38 (Bangpakong) is on slightly higher ground and was verified safe in 2011 and 2022. Verify any specific property — do not assume the corridor is uniform.
Why we chose Km 38
Our family chose Km 38 (Bangpakong) for one reason: it is the only zone that serves all three use cases — Bangkok logistics, Chonburi manufacturing, Laem Chabang export — without being prohibitively far from any. After 20+ years operating here, this thesis has held. Our tenants today include all three: a Bangkok-bound e-commerce fulfillment operator, a Tier-1 Japanese auto supplier shipping to Chonburi, and a Korean import-export firm using Laem Chabang.
Get the full corridor analysis
The EEC Warehouse Cost Benchmark 2026 PDF includes rate tables for each km zone, flood maps, and a drive-time matrix for the major demand corridors. Download free →