BANGKOK: Cambodia’s proposed Funan Techo Canal will help bring more cargo ships to Laem Chabang Port in Chonburi province, further promoting the logistics industry in Thailand’s eastern region, the Transport Ministry said on Monday (July 29).
The proposed 180 km-long canal connects Phnom Penh Autonomous Port with Kep city and the Gulf of Thailand and aims to ease Cambodia’s reliance on Vietnamese ports. The construction is expected to begin next month with a budget of US$ 1.7 billion, and the canal is scheduled to open in early 2028.
The ministry’s Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning estimated that the canal will increase traffic to Chonburi’s Laem Chabang Port, which is also under expansion. The current phase 3 of the project is designed to increase the capacity from 11 million to 18 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) of containers per year.
The office added that increasing freight traffic to the Gulf of Thailand will also create demand for the government’s proposed Land Bridge project in Chumphon and Ranong provinces.
The 1-trillion-baht mega-project involves constructing deep-sea ports in the two southern provinces and transforming transport routes to link the ports. The land bridge is expected to help ease shipping congestion in the Malacca Straits, currently the main regional trade route for cargo, while cutting the travel time from 9 to 5 days.
However, the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) believes that although the canal will be usable in 2028, it might take Thailand’s Eastern neighbour up to a decade to develop a large-scale logistic route.
It took Thailand 10 years to develop the Laem Chabang Port as well as supporting logistic facilities so it seem likely that it will take Cambodia roughly the same amount of time, said Sumet Ongkittikul, TDRI's research director for transport and logistics policy.
He also pointed out that Laem Chabang Port has received significant support from the development of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) area, which has also created demand for the logistics industry in the eastern region.
Sumet estimated that once Funan Techo Canal is fully developed, it could cut Cambodia’s logistics cost by up to 30%, as well as open more connections with other countries. - The Nation/ANN
