By GCR Staff

 

The Thai government will reveal the location of its planned “land bridge” between the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea in June, the country’s transport minister Saksayam Chidchob has said.

 

The plan is to build two deepwater ports on either side of one of Thailand’s narrowest regions, linked by a 100km railway and motorway, so that cargo ships sailing between the west Pacific and the Middle East can use the land bridge as a relay, allowing them to avoid the Malacca Strait at Singapore, the world’s most congested sea corridor.

 

The land bridge concept has replaced the long-mulled idea of building a costly canal. The government approved a $5.3m feasibility study last year (see further reading). This assessed the land bridge’s environmental impact and economic prospects. The State Railway of Thailand was also allocated $3m to study rail routes.

 

Full story: https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/news/thailands-land-bridge-rail-and-port-project-be-unv/

 

-- © Copyright Global Construction Review 2021-03-23

 

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Chumphon-Ranong?

 

The map seems to indicate the approximate area, further South, of a previous, unfulfilled, "Land Bridge" project:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_44_(Thailand)

 

 

Let me see if I understand this.

The ships will unload on one side, the cargo will be transported via railway or road to the other side, , then loaded on another ship  for the rest of the trip? 

I know very little about sea transport, but The logistics of such a scheme sound a bit complicated to me  

I don't know why I just have these two points popping up in my mind: High-speed Railway Link and Moon Missions... ????

8 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Let me see if I understand this.

The ships will unload on one side, the cargo will be transported via railway or road to the other side, , then loaded on another ship  for the rest of the trip? 

I know very little about sea transport, but The logistics of such a scheme sound a bit complicated to me  

And expensive.

Does this mean a pipeline across or using tanker trucks doesn't seem feasible. 

 

The scheme, which is being called the Chumphon–Ranong land bridge, is particularly aimed at oil shipments from the Gulf to China, Japan and South Korea, according to Mr Saksayam.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The government approved a $5.3m feasibility study last year

This is the key figure.  Thailand is always 'mulling' or 'considering'.  They form committees so some self-important but ignorant yahoos can get free lunches and travel expenses.   They don't actually do anything but a lot of effort/money goes into the planning.

Thats gonna be a lot of trains way and back. Also, how long does it take to pump the oil out of a ship, and then pump it back in?

 

Seems like a pipe dream to me. Nice consultancy fee though.

Not to worry…everything is under control.

 

China will plan it, China will build it, China will control it…

 

...and Thailand will take out high interest loans from China to pay for it.

 

 

 

20 minutes ago, Hayduke said:

China will plan it, China will build it, China will control it…

and Thailand will put in U-turns

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The government approved a $5.3m feasibility study last year

 

I'm forming a committee of Thai girls to study me. 

3 hours ago, SoilSpoil said:

Thats gonna be a lot of trains way and back. Also, how long does it take to pump the oil out of a ship, and then pump it back in?

Seems like a pipe dream to me. Nice consultancy fee though.

'how long does it take to pump the oil out of a ship, and then pump it back in?'

I looked it up on the TAT website, apparently it's no longer than ten minutes.

 

<For the hard-of-learning: The text above may contain traces of sarcasm>

 

Thailand’s land bridge rail-and-port project “to be unveiled in June”

 

....and again in July, August and September.

So how long / how many trains will be needed to transport the cargo of a large container ship? 

 

 

11 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Does this mean a pipeline across or using tanker trucks doesn't seem feasible. 

 

The scheme, which is being called the Chumphon–Ranong land bridge, is particularly aimed at oil shipments from the Gulf to China, Japan and South Korea, according to Mr Saksayam.

So there will be an oil pipeline along the land bridge with plenty of opportunity for massive environmental damage to the marine environment on both side when the inevitable accidents occur.  I wrote at length about the stupidity of this plan when it surfaced last year.

 

Are the potential kick-backs from having a road/rail/pipeline route  greater than those from building a conal  ?

Make no mistake this is a strategic move by the CCP this will end up being turned into a canal once Thailand is in enough debt with China, with the Indian Army setting up camp in the Andaman and Nicobar islands China will do what they like to the south of Thailand and the Thai's have no choice in the matter.

Surely we need to know will this be a new hub or 2 hubs even ,or is there a hub cap ?