A Major Southeast Asian Port Favored by Several International Terminal Operators Worth Your Notice

Maritime Silk Road starts?from Quanzhou, through the?Beibu?Gulf to the Philippines, and through Indonesia to the vicinity of Thailand. When it comes to the largest seaport in Thailand, many people think that it is the port of Bangkok.?But because it is located along the Chao Phraya River and has developed earlier, it is gradually difficult to adapt to the development of large ships?with the water depth only 8.2 m. And it is located in the center of the city, so it is difficult to expand the port area. Therefore, the Thai government re-located the site to the current port of Laem Chabang.?Since 1991, it has replaced the port of Bangkok as the largest port in Thailand, being a deep-water port capable of docking 400-meter supermax?ships. Today, I will take you to know the charm of this big port in Southeast Asia.

Port Scale

The Laem?Chabang Port?is located on the coast of Bangkok Bay, about 1560 nautical miles from the coastal port group of Guangxi. The city of Chonburi, where Laem?Chabang?is located, is 80 km?away from Bangkok and has well-developed transportation, including cars, ships, planes and trains, making it an important seaport and industrial export center of Thailand, as well as an emerging gateway to international trade.

The Port of Laem Chabang, belonging to the Thailand Terminal Institution,?is one of the fastest growing ports in the world in terms of cargo throughput, with more than 7,000 ships of all kinds berthing every year, making it one of the busiest ports in Asia. In 2006, the Port of Laem Chabang handled 37 million tons of cargo, 4 million TEU of containers and 570,000 cars. At present, the first phase of Laem Chabang is fully operational, including a 400m-wide berthing area with 3,600m-long berths, 14m-deep water and a 1,300m-long jetty, with 11 berths for large cargo ships of 30,000 to 50,000 tons.

The third phase of the expansion of Laem Chabang has now begun. This time, the Port Authority of Thailand has signed a 35-year contract with GPC International Terminal Ltd to jointly develop and operate the Phase III F terminal project at Laem Chabang, with construction of Berths F1 and F2 in 2023 and 2027 respectively, and?being?scheduled to be operational in 2025 and 2029. By then, the container capacity of Laem Chabang?will reach 18 million TEU.

According to the 2021 ranking of the world's top 100 ports?of Lloyd's List,?Laem Chabang?is ranked 21st with 8,335,400 TEU, while the 10th ranked Port of Rotterdam has a container throughput of 15.3 million TEU. It is a step away from the world's top 10 ports.

Trade of Laem Chabang Port

Laem Chabang?has a container throughput of 8,741,100 TEU in 2022, with a growth rate of 2.6%. 55% of the vessel types calling at Laem Chabang?are container vessels, followed by 14% of RORO vessels. This is closely related to economic development and industrial structure?in Thailand. As the second largest economy in ASEAN, the export of agricultural and industrial products is the main driver of Thailand economic exports, with China and the United States as the largest export partners. The automobile manufacturing industry is one of the pillar industries in Thailand, which has become the number one automobile manufacturer in Southeast Asia with three RORO terminals with an annual design capacity of 2.25 million units/year.

Thailand and Maritime Silk Road: A Different "Industrial Chinatown"

Thailand is strategically located along the Belt and Road, especially the Maritime Silk Road. According to reference, Zheng He visited Thailand twice, as evidenced by the Ganyanami?Temple in Bangkok, the Big?Buddha Temple and?the statue of Wat Kanlaya?in Ayutthaya. And today the Maritime Silk Road has formed a different kind of "industrial Chinatown" in Thailand.

In Thailand, the "Thai-Chinese?Rayong Industrial Zone" jointly built by private enterprises from China and Thailand has become a hot spot for Chinese enterprises to "go to sea?together". With the newly renovated lawns, neatly planned factories and green trees on both sides of the road, 66 Chinese-invested enterprises are adjacent to each other, continuously transporting auto parts and photovoltaic products to all over Thailand and exporting to other countries and regions. In?the 4km2?zone?of the Phase I?and II, 66 enterprises have more than 1,000 Chinese employees and tens of thousands of Thai employees "settled" here. In the future, the Phase?III?of the 8 km2?zone?will introduce 200 more enterprises.

The development of the Maritime Silk Road in Thailand has enhanced the interconnection of countries along the route, strengthened cultural exchanges, enhanced interpersonal?relationships, and greatly contributed to the development of Thai ports due to the increase in trade volume.

Currently, Laem Chabang Port is continuing to build the Phase III and Phase IV, and the number of ports and terminals are increasing. E-PORTS [Port Guidelines] will update the system with the latest port information according to the Star?Agent of Laem Chabang.?You only need to fill in the information of ships and cargoes arriving at Laem Chabang?to?get the latest port overview.?You can find E-PORTS for [Port Guidelines] by the following ways.