SOUTH EAST ASIA: GATEWAY PORT DEVELOPMENT
ARE NEW CONTENDERS READY? Supporting high-volume manufacturing requires sufficient and efficient port capacity – just how ready are Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia to facilitate a shift? A J Keyes takes a detailed look THAILAND Laem Chabang Gearing Up While the port of Klong Toey, Bangkok was the traditional port of entry for accessing Thailand, as a city port the need to build more modern, better-located deep-water facilities resulted in the development of Laem Chabang, some 130km to the south of the country’s capital. As Table 1 shows, global terminal operating companies and major shipping lines have taken a strong interest in accessing facilities to serve Thailand through Laem Chabang. Unsurprisingly, the Asian-based port operators, Hutchison Ports and PSA International, have several terminal stakes, largely through taking a share in an operating company. At the same time, several Asian-based shipping lines also have a presence, with Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), NYK Line and Evergreen all present. Hutchison Ports has largescale investment plans at Laem Chabang. In January 2019, the company inaugurated Phase I of its Terminal D operation, which utilises remote-control quay and yard cranes. This project is part of a longer-term multiphase development which aims to (eventually) increase total container capacity in Laem Chabang to 18 million TEU. It will include further capacity coming on-line in 2024 and again in 2030, as part of the Terminal E and Terminal F projects. In support of the further development at Laem Chabang, the Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) has plans to complete a largescale dredging project to cater for larger and more frequent vessels, as Vice Admiral Kamolsak Promprayoon, Director-General, PAT, explained in Q1 2021. “The project will cover the dredging of two ship basins and a fairway, which
will remove excessive soil and maintain the level of aboveground water within the safety standard. Furthermore, it will ensure that large container ships can dock with no problem and hopefully will attract more ships to use the port to its fullest capacity,” he said. The project is expected to take around one-year to complete. VIETNAM Growth but challenges According to the Vietnam Port Association (VPA) there are officially 320 ports in the country, along 1900 miles of coastline, with up to 80 per cent of container imports and exports actually moving through smaller facilities. A major issue in Vietnam is that the quality of infrastructure can vary considerably between its three regions in the north, central and south of Vietnam. However, continued manufacturing growth in the past 10 years – and especially the most recent five-year period – has emphasised the requirement for further investment in port and supply-chain infrastructure to keep pace with demand but also to help reduce logistics costs for users and shippers. This position remains and highlights the challenges faced. Yet such issues have not so far prevented major terminal operators and shipping lines from investing in the country, as Table 1 shows, with a wide range of major companies heavily involved. North Vietnam – Going Deep Deep-water, largescale facilities in the north of country have been limited, until mid-2018 when Haiphong International
Terminal
Interests
Stake
Capacity in ‘000 TEU
Laem Chabang International Container Terminal (LCICT)
DP World
34.5%
1,800
CMA CGM (via APL)
14.5%
Evergreen
51.0%
Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL)
49.0%
APM Terminals*
35.0%
Laem Chabang Terminal B2 / Evergreen Terminal
Laem Chabang Container Terminal 1 (LCB1)
700
PSA International
40% in ESCO
APM Terminals via LCB1 share
90.0% (LCB1) **
900
TIPS Co Ltd
Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL)
24.4%
1,000
Hutchison Ports
87.5%
400
Hutchison Laem Chabang Terminal (HLT) / Terminal A3
80.0%
400
Hutchison Ports Thailand (Terminal C1/C2)
80.0%
2,500
Hutchison Ports Thailand (Terminal D)
80.0%
1,200
50.0% in operating company
600
Eastern Sea Laem Chabang Terminal Co Ltd (ESCO) / Terminal B3
24 | JULY/AUGUST 2021
PSA International
* = ESCO (40%), Bangkok Modern Terminal (25%) ** = Bangkok Modern Terminal (10%) Source: Terminal operators, port, Dataand
1,100
LCMT Co Ltd
Thai Laem Chabang Terminal Co Ltd (TLT) / Terminal A2
8 Table 1: Container Terminal Facilities at Laem Chabang
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