Thailand to invest billions in port sector

Approximately US$3bn has been allocated to upgrade Laem Chabang port, with the aim of increasing the country’s import and export cargo handling capacity. Part of the initiative is to turn the port into a smart port with seamless intermodal and rail links.

Presently, approximately 88 per cent of transport with the port is via the road system and 9.5 per cent by rail. The freight rail hub within the planned expansion works, called the single rail transfer operator (SRTO), aims to increase the handling capacity of rail transport from 500,000TEU to two million TEU per year. It is estimated that this will lift the proportion of container traffic moved by rail to around 30 per cent of volume.

Around 70 per cent of Laem Chabang container port volumes involve the Intra-Asian trades.

There is also a plan to construct an automated container terminal at the Port of Bangkok’s West Quay and to develop 29 public terminals on the Chao Phraya River.

“The Thai government is currently promoting several large-scale water transport projects, including an industrial port development project in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) district,” the Prime Minister’s office confirmed in an official statement, explaining that developing Thailand’s waterway transportation network will help boost international trade with Southeast Asian locations.