So they want to unload, put it on truck or rail, and load it again on the other side? I’m no logistics expert, but I feel like that introduces a lot of complexity compared to the time saved. Like, would this cargo have to go through customs? If not, wouldn’t it be easy to use this to smuggle stuff into and out of the country?
Yeah, I just realized what they intend and am thinking the same thing. It sounds like they intend a closed rail network between the ports to eliminate things like customs, but it’s still gonna take at least a day of processing on each end of that.
I feel like a canal between Ranong and Chumphon wouldn’t be too bad at around 27mi (43km).
Can’t access the article, but wasn’t China the one most vulnerable from the Malacca Strait being a chokepoint? As in, their trade towards Europe and fuel from the Middle East being potentially threatened? How does Thailand pitching to the US make sense then? How would a Thai bypass even increase security, since both routes are in the same area and can be equally blockaded? There aren’t any problems with throughput capacity at Malacca, unlike say at the Panama Canal. Maybe it will make the travel distance slightly shorter, but is there really any way it could ever be cost-effective to offload and reload ships for a few hundred kilometers savings?
