Thailand's Ambitious Land Bridge Project Gains Global Interest

[webfact]

Image courtesy of issuu

 

Thailand is forging ahead with its ambitious Land Bridge project, a megastructure aimed at linking the Gulf of Thailand with the Andaman Sea. This development comes as the Thai government confirms continued commitment, spearheaded by Transport Minister, Suriya Jungrungreangkit, amid keen interest from international investors in China and the Middle East.

 

The proposed Land Bridge, estimated at a staggering cost of 1 trillion Baht, was introduced in a nationwide initiative to improve Thailand’s logistics and bolster its standing in the global marketplace.

 

Minister Suriya, a prominent figure in this initiative, embarked on a promotional tour to attract global investment. The tour successfully captured the attention of several key players, including Dubai Port World, a company expressing significant interest in participating in the project’s bidding process.

 

To facilitate this monumental task, the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP) has crafted the Southern Special Economic Development Zone (SEC) Bill.

 

This legislation serves as a regulatory framework and has been made available for public review online. The decision to go live with the bill is the first step in a highly structured process towards realising the Land Bridge.

 

Public consultation sessions are scheduled next month in Bangkok and Surat Thani, where stakeholders will have the opportunity to voice their opinions. Following these consultations, a comprehensive summary of public feedback will be sent to the Ministry of Transport.

 

Should all proceed as planned, the SEC Bill is expected to secure cabinet approval by May, prior to its submission to parliament.

 

Minister Suriya is confident that the SEC Bill will be enacted this year, enabling the commencement of the bidding process in the following year. Already, preliminary discussions with potential investors have played a crucial role in shaping the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the project.

 

 

 

The government’s strategic approach is designed to attract both domestic and international investors under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, which offers a 50-year concession for project development and management.

 

The Land Bridge aims to significantly modernise Thailand's maritime infrastructure. It involves the transformation of Chumphon Port into a modern deep-sea hub, connecting it to Ranong Port.

 

The latter will evolve into a pivotal freight container port, serving as a vital trade gateway to South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, strengthening ties under the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

 

Through this project, the Thai government articulates its vision of enhancing regional connectivity and transforming maritime transport, ultimately strengthening the nation’s economic competitiveness on the world stage, reported Bangkok Post.

 

-- 2025-03-25

 

 

[ozz1]

Got to keep the Chinese happy

[blaze master]

How do I get in on this contract. I would settle with providing only the steel rebar for the concrete.

[redwood1]

This STUPID STUPID STUPID idea is never going to happen......

 

Anybody in 5 minutes can calculate that there would be enormous costs  involved in offloading one ship then loading all the containers onto trucks or a train then re-loading the containers on a different ship.....Plus it would take longer than sailing around...

 

No one is interested in this plan.....Except for the brown envelope boys and the press release monkeys......

 

 

[KireB]

Quite some stunning National parks are going to be ruined. The shipping lane goes straight through the Surin islands and Laem Son.

A big price to pay.

[Tropicalevo]

28 minutes ago, KireB said:

Quite some stunning National parks are going to be ruined. The shipping lane goes straight through the Surin islands and Laem Son.

A big price to pay.

 

Sadly, Thailand/China do not care about that.

It is all about the money and big project back-handers.

[tomazbodner]

Kra canal 2.0. At least this time it's not involving the nukes to build a canal through Thailand... It was flaring up every 2 decades to squeeze some money out of Singapore to put a stop to it, last around 2003, if I remember correctly. Practicality of Kra canal was actually better than this land bridge... there, ship would just sail through Thailand to the other side, but here the whole ship needs to be offloaded, then stuff transferred by road, and then loaded on another ship to continue... What's the point? Especially as a lot of the stuff is for China, which has ports in Burma that avoid the pirates of Malacca Straits, and are even closer than Thailand to the West and to China...

[watchcat]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand is forging ahead with its ambitious Land Bridge project, a megastructure aimed at linking the Gulf of Thailand with the Andaman Sea.

 

China will be happy with this.

[JoePai]

2 hours ago, redwood1 said:

This STUPID STUPID STUPID idea is never going to happen......

 

Anybody in 5 minutes can calculate that there would be enormous costs  involved in offloading one ship then loading all the containers onto trucks or a train then re-loading the containers on a different ship.....Plus it would take longer than sailing around...

 

No one is interested in this plan.....Except for the brown envelope boys and the press release monkeys......

 

 

Not so sure :

Once all the infrastructure is set up - with much of it automated - then the cost would not be too much

It would take less time than saiing around

BUT the most important point are the problems (choke point, congestion etc) of the Malacca Straight 

[redwood1]

2 minutes ago, JoePai said:

Not so sure :

Once all the infrastructure is set up - with much of it automated - then the cost would not be too much

It would take less time than saiing around

BUT the most important point are the problems (choke point, congestion etc) of the Malacca Straight 

 

But your forgetting one thing......A 2nd very expensive ship as big as the first ship would have to be just sitting there waiting....And the 2nd ship would have to dead head from who knows where to get there..

[KhunLA]

Hopefully they let China build it, if Rama 2 is any indication of safe road projects of late 

[JoePai]

15 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

 

But your forgetting one thing......A 2nd very expensive ship as big as the first ship would have to be just sitting there waiting....And the 2nd ship would have to dead head from who knows where to get there..

The logistics of 2 ships co-ordinating can easily be arranged – that's what they already do for the first ship to pick up the cargo in the original port.

[NoDisplayName]

16 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

 

But your forgetting one thing......A 2nd very expensive ship as big as the first ship would have to be just sitting there waiting....And the 2nd ship would have to dead head from who knows where to get there..

 

What?  You think logistics isn't a thing?

 

They got computers and stuff that can do scheduling........the second ship would be bringing containers of other stuff to be loaded onto the first (or other) ships.  It's almost as if different nations are, you know.,.............trading.

 

The main problem is that Trump will likely sanction Thailand for building unapproved projects that don't make 'merka great, and even if they do build it, Trump will simply reclaim it and move it to Greenland State.

[NoDisplayName]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

a staggering cost of 1 trillion Baht

 

Holy Moley!  That's like $30 Billion!

 

The entire 1000-km high-speed rail from Kunming to Vientiene only cost $6 Billion.

[watchcat]

44 minutes ago, JoePai said:

Not so sure :

Once all the infrastructure is set up - with much of it automated - then the cost would not be too much

It would take less time than saiing around

BUT the most important point are the problems (choke point, congestion etc) of the Malacca Straight 

 

Ask Thaksin is supposed to be an expert on shady things  That he ha done before so  he should know.

 

[Yagoda]

12 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

 

 

The main problem is that Trump will likely sanction Thailand for building unapproved projects that don't make 'merka great, and even if they do build it, Trump will simply reclaim it and move it to Greenland State.

I doubt it. You Trump obsessed much?

[NoDisplayName]

9 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

I doubt it. You Trump obsessed much?

 

**whoosh**

 

I don't blame you for asking, giving the inordinate number of rant threads started by folks whose craniums are squatted within by tiny-handed stable geniuses.

[watchcat]

3 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

I doubt it. You Trump obsessed much?

 

Who's Trump if not the Snooker player?

[newbee2022]

Unless it's not a canal it's ridiculous 🤣

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

amid keen interest from international investors in China and the Middle East.

Yeah okay... 

[Toby1947]

I trillion baht I suspect you could by Thailand for less than that. 

[Woke to Sounds]

6 hours ago, redwood1 said:

Anybody in 5 minutes can calculate that there would be enormous costs  involved in offloading one ship then loading all the containers onto trucks or a train then re-loading the containers on a different ship.....Plus it would take longer than sailing around

 

Also it doesn't align with Net Zero and all the green doomsday UN climate change shenanigans.

[BusyB]

6 hours ago, redwood1 said:

This STUPID STUPID STUPID idea is never going to happen......

 

Anybody in 5 minutes can calculate that there would be enormous costs  involved in offloading one ship then loading all the containers onto trucks or a train then re-loading the containers on a different ship.....Plus it would take longer than sailing around...

 

No one is interested in this plan.....Except for the brown envelope boys and the press release monkeys......

 

 

 

Exactly.

 

An extension of the rail lines from the north and north east (the green and yellow routes above) to Ranong makes sense in view of the overall rail system upgrades. Loading/unloading of ships in Ranong for rail to/from Bangkok/Beijing makes sense. 

 

But offloading onto rail in Chumpon then onloading again in Rayong (or vice versa) is logistical lunacy. A canal would make far more sense in that respect. It would shorten the journey time considerably.

 

Both options will probably devastate a huge area of the isthmus irreparably.

[MikeandDow]

2 Words, NEVER HAPPEN

[Dionigi]

What happened to the idea of a canal

[Unamerican]

50 minutes ago, BusyB said:

in Rayong

Ranong or Rayong?? 

[digger70]

Thailand's Ambitious Land Bridge Project Gains Global Interes

 

The distance is only 95 kilometer that's Halve the lenght of the Suez Canal.

Wy not built a few super Excavators and dig out the whole length of the canal ,,

No changing ,Unloading and loading cargo from one ship to on other and back on a other ship.

To me it sounds  silly the way they want to do the Land Bridge. Too much handling /changing the cargo too many things Can/will go wrong like Damage /Corruption/wasting time  sips not being on time for loading/unloading .

In the end A lot more work and not much time saved  maybe a few $ cheaper but at what cost.

 

[BusyB]

59 minutes ago, Unamerican said:

Ranong or Rayong?? 

 

Lol ... I always get those 2 mixed up, bit like Samut Sakhon and Samut Prakhan.

 

I meant Ranong of course

[John Drake]

You never know. 

 

[Mario Cosmopolite]

13 hours ago, redwood1 said:

This STUPID STUPID STUPID idea is never going to happen......

 

Anybody in 5 minutes can calculate that there would be enormous costs  involved in offloading one ship then loading all the containers onto trucks or a train then re-loading the containers on a different ship.....Plus it would take longer than sailing around...

 

No one is interested in this plan.....Except for the brown envelope boys and the press release monkeys......

 

 

Agreed the rail connection was not a credible project. This is I believe a return to the canal project, which has been around for much longer - no transshipment needed but much more expensive, especially as the largest container ships have got a lot bigger over the last 20 years.