News Extra: 16 November 2023

Hello from Hanoi. This is the News Extra for paid subscribers - thanks for supporting this site. News Extra features news stories with expanded editorial and some work notes on articles that may become stories I write about in the future.

I’m in Hanoi for a week and I have a tightly packed schedule that involves visiting the metro work sites as well as some high-profile construction sites. I will also write some travel articles about the Hanoi Train Street and stations in Hanoi.

[Line 2A Metro Hanoi.]

Thai Land Bridge

There has been a lot of news about the Thai Land Bridge proposal (news archive here), which is the land alternative to the Kra Canal. Like the canal, I thought this idea would die down after a while. Now the Thai PM is shopping for investors, so maybe this idea isn’t going away.

The idea is to build two ports connected by a railway across the peninsula. The dream is to become a global shipping hub to rival Singapore.

There are a number of problems with this proposal, which have been written about and listed in the news archive.

There is the problem of double handling. Containers are offloaded at Ranong, put on a train and shipped over the the port in Chumphon, where they are offloaded and put on another ship. Not only are the containers double-handled, but this operation requires a second ship if the containers are going to the same end destination.

Not all containers that go via Singapore are going to stay on the same ship. The beauty of Singapore is that it is a single port, so a container that is unloaded there is going to find another ship for onward travel. By comparison, Thailand would need to build two ports that are equally as competitive as Singapore.

There was a recent article about the costs involved for shippers:

Higher costs likely for shippers that use proposed Thai land bridge project: Chee Hong Tat

No prizes for guessing that this was published in The Straits Times. Not that Singapore should be worried about the Thai Bridge project. Singapore already has one of the best ports in the world, and the Tuas expansion project will give this port an unassailable advantage. Tuas Port will be the world’s largest fully automated port when completed in 20 years.

Thailand would be better off spending the money on improving the Laem Chabang Port and building better railways from the port.

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