A COASTAL DEVELOPMENT IDEA FOR GULF OF THAILAND TO IMPROVE GLOBAL TRADES

Chanin Chuen-Im, Jiin-Jen Lee

Abstract


Marine transport is an important mode of transportation in global trades. Despite its slow speed, more than 80 percent of transporting goods around the world is by sea. At the present time, transportation between Pacific Ocean and the Middle East region are mainly from existing three routes: Malacca Route, Sunda Route, and Lombok Route. There are more than 500,000 ships of all sizes passing through these three routes every year. It would be advantageous from the economic point of view if one can shorten the travel distance by introducing a man-made canal herein called “Siam Canal” which connects the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Thailand. Hydrodynamic simulation is being conducted to evaluate the conditions before and after the introduction of “Siam Canal” to assess the possible modification of the marine environment. A more detailed feasibility study is underway in order to provide a more definitive assessment on the economic, social, political, and environmental impacts of the proposed Siam Canal.

Keywords


Coastal development; Global trade; Man-Made Canal

References


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