Government Move Ahead With Laem Chabang and Dry Port Development

BANGOK, Nov 12 (TNA) -- The government said that it will be developing Laem Chabang deep water port in conjunction with other Dry Port facilities in the country. Buddhipongse Punnakanta, the deputy secretary-general for the PM in capacity of the government spokesman said that the government was in the process of carrying out the third stage of development on Laem Chabang deep port to increase its cargo handling capacity from the current 7.67 million up to 18 million containers annually. He added that there will be the development of dry port facilities that will help to reduce congestion at Laem Chabang. An important facet of the plan is to increase rail deliveries to port facilities from the current 5.5 to 30 %. Mr Buddhipongse said that these developments were aimed at making Thailand the logistics hub for the region critically targeting the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) region and is part of the 20 year national strategic plan. Priority will be placed on identifying and establishing suitable locations as dry port facilities using rail networks as the main transportation system. The Ministry of Transport with information from other departments as well as the private sector has identified Chachoengsao, Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen and Nakhon Sawan provinces as suitable locations for establishing dry port facilities. Beside this other border provinces such as Nong Khai, Mukdahan, Chiang Rai, Tak, Sa Kaeo and Songkhla are seen as important cargo holding and distribution centres. (TNA)