BEIJING: The theme of this year’s China-ASEAN Expo is ‘maritime co-operation’. The Thai port of Laem Chabang is one of the most important trade gateways between China and Thailand.
Some of the seven million cargo-filled containers handled here each year. Laem Chabang is Thailand’s biggest port. Already, 15 per cent of trade volume is between China and Thailand: a figure that’s set to grow with the implementation of China’s 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Thailand wants to be the hub of business between China and ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations: the place at which Chinese goods are imported to ASEAN and ASEAN goods are exported to China, and worldwide. Laem Chabang is the gateway to that hub.
“We have developed the port to an international standard, comparable to ports in China, Singapore and Hong Kong. We have the latest technology and equipment. We also operate a direct shipping route to the United States,” Laem Chabang port director Sutthinan Hatthawong said.
Security is a priority and the port has one of the world’s most sophisticated container-scanning systems, using Chinese technology. Cargo is taken directly to a drive-through x-ray machine – there’s another for goods arriving by rail. In future, the port will be connected to a high-speed rail network, to be built by China.
“We used to take two to three hours to open a container and examine it but with the x-ray machine we can do it in a couple of minutes, it helps us a lot. We can see what’s inside, we can even see the material,” Pongcharush Watanagaivanvong with port customs bureau said. China is Thailand’s biggest business partner. Trade between the two countries is worth 76 billion US dollars a year: it’s hoped to increase that to a hundred billion.
In the 19th century, Europe was the center of global economic development. In the 20th century it was America, many believe in the 21st century it can be Asia at the world’s economic heart. Ocean-going trade, and major ports like this one, can play a big part in that growth.
China’s Maritime Silk Road plans see a big expansion in business. Already there are growing links between Laem Chabang and the Chinese import-export gateway at the Beibu Gulf Port in Guangxi. Closer co-operation between Asian nations – as well as greater maritime connectivity with the European and African continents – are seen as key to a new upsurge in global trade.
