Discussions are underway in Thailand to construct two deep seaports on both sides of the country’s southern coast, which would be linked via rail and highway in hopes to shorten shipping time by bypassing the busy Strait of Malacca with a 100-kilometre highway and railway passageway.
The latest proposal replaces the Kra Canal plan, which has been dropped on environmental grounds. That plan would have seen a canal crossing the skinniest point of the country, through the Isthmus of Kra just south of Phuket and Krabi, chopping around 1,200 kilometres off the shipping journey.
The new project is expected to reduce shipping time by 2 days by bypassing the Strait of Malacca, which runs along Peninsular Malaysia’s south-west coast, before curving east past Singapore.
However, the passageway is notoriously congested, as well as being susceptible to piracy. According to a recent report, incidents of piracy increased from 8 in 2018 to 30 last year.
“The Strait has become quite congested. Using an alternative route through Thailand would cut shipping time by more than 2 days, which is very valuable for businesses,” said Transport Minister, Saksiam Chidchob.
The government has set 75 million baht aside for a study into the building of the seaports, along with a further 90 million baht to look into the feasibility of highway and rail connections between the two.
Had the project went ahead, it would have been a major blow to Singapore which has built its fortune on being the south east Asian shipping and trading hub at the turning point at the bottom of the Mallaca Strait.