Article by Assoc

What will Thailand benefit from the Thai Canal project?

Article by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Satapon Keovimol

BSIE. (University of Oklahoma) MSIE. (New Jersey Institute of Technology) Dr.Ing. (Universite De Nice) France

Faculty of Engineering. King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology North Bangkok

Advisor of the Special Committee for Studying Thai-Canal Project of the Senate

Advisor of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights of the Senate

The Thai Canal will be a global canal when built.

The Thai Canal will be an economical flagship for a secure country.

Thailand is in south East Asia and is in between countries that total to 2 in 3 of the world population, which is around 6,200 Mil. Thailand geographically blocks the path to southern Asia, so if Thailand builds a canal (The Thai Canal) it would be a new route for ships that will shorten the trip. It means that Thailand is on a prime position on the globe. When ships flow through, it will be like the current or foreign cash flow going through the country, or in other words. It will bring US. Dollars into Thailand. The maximum benefit that we will receive is up to Thailand's abilities and imagination to reap from this lucky opportunity. No other country in the world has this unique geographic attribute to create a canal in the world route of ships, from the Thai coast in the east to the Andaman coast in the west.

Picture 1 World Map, Displaying the location of the Thai Canal

Thailand is geographically on the world sea route, freight ships from the west on the Andaman coast are ships from Europe and the Middle East traveling to countries on the Thai Coast in the east side of Thailand such as Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan. If the Thai Canal is completed, these ships will not have to pass the Malacca Strait saving 1,000 – 1,400 kilometers or 2-3 days of travel. If Thailand learns to use the geological advantage of the country, the Thai Canal will be a shortcut in sea travel around the world and will save costs from every trip that passes the Thai Canal, summing to hundreds of million baht every year. A benefit from using the Thai Canal as the main route in sea travel is a decrease in fuel consumption from our global reserves, tens of billions of barrels every year, decreasing global pollution and helping to decrease the effects from the Green House effect.

The geographical advantage of Thailand when compared to Singapore which is a small island country, Thailand has more natural resources and from the advantage of being on the world sea route, saving 2-3 days of travel from every ship that passes the Thai Canal, it will save enormous costs. (A freight ship with a size of 5,000 TEUs spends more than 20 million baht everyday). Singapore is an island sizing only 670 square kilometers almost equal to Phuket Island in Thailand and has very limited natural resources, everything is expensive, even pure water is bought from Malaysia. But with their brilliances and their sacrifices, they have made Singapore rich from there geographical position. Every ship that passes the Strait of Malacca has to stop for service at the port in Singapore, creating huge revenues for their country. At the present 1 Singaporean has an income that equals 10 Thais.

When the Thai Canal is completed, it will create huge financial benefits for Thailand. Even when our global oil reserve runs out, sea transportation will still be important to every country in the world. Sea transport is the cheapest method of transportation for large amounts of goods. Every country that sea freight ships pass will receive economical benefits. So when the Thai Canal is created, both sides of the Canal will be global economical cities, drawing currency from every part of the world. The Thai Canal will change the face of Thailand’s economy enormously, as soon as the Thai Canal is finished, it will create 2-3 million stable jobs, benefiting many generations.

The possibility is up to every Thai in the country, in supporting with strength, ability and intelligence and most of all a national leader willing to sacrifice for our country strongly supporting the project. The Thai Canal will be like a flagship leading our nation’s economy, creating stability and wealth to Thailand.

Picture 2 Countries in South East Asia will benefit from the Thai Canal

Countries in South East Asia will benefit directly from the Thai Canal. From the Map, we can see that almost every country can use the Thai Canal because the Thai Canal is between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. If the Thai Canal is created, countries on both sides of the canal will have a shortcut to travel internationally, saving 2,000-2,500 kilometers per trip in transporting goods between Asian countries. Not only will the Thai Canal shorten the time and save costs, it will be safe from pirates because ships will not have to pass the Strait of Malacca such as a sea freight from India traveling to China can reach China without having to pass the strait of Malacca saving 4-5 days off the trip. If a large ship, several hundred tons is used for the trip, each trip will save more than 100 million baht. So the Thai Canal will not only benefit Thailand, but will help develop the economy of countries in Asia on both sides of Thailand. The Thai Canal will be a main route in sea transportation in the South East Asia zone. Other than ships from Asia, international ships from Europe, America and the Middle East and from the rest of the world will use the Thai Canal to save costs, especially in tourism. The Thai Canal will expand the world’s sea routes to major ports of several countries without having to go around Singapore and the ships will be safe from pirates in the Strait of Malacca. Luxury cruise ships from every part of the world will be interested to travel to Thailand and to Asia. The route passes several large cities in the region and will be a route that passes more tourism attractions than the present.

The importance of sea international transportation, information stated by global financial institute’s states that sea transportation has a major role in global economy and directly effects the cost of transportation around the world. So statistics show that sea transportation increases every year following the expansion of world trade in the present and in the future. In the present, more than half of the ships in the world pass the south of Thailand and the numbers of ships are increasing every year. Sea transportation through the Strait of Malacca is very congested causing sea accidents (2-3 incidents every month) especially on the route passing Singapore, which is only 1.5 miles wide. A major problem for sea freights passing through the Strait of Malacca is terrorism and pirates, there are pirate raids demanding protection fees everyday. The information shows that if Thailand can complete the Thai Canal project, Thailand will have a huge role to the world and sea transportation around the world.

Route Comparison for sea transportation: The Thai Canal and Present routes

Picture 3 World Map, Sea Transportation Routes passing the south of Thailand

Large sea vessels have to use the straits of Sunda and Lombok instead. From the world map you will see that the route passing the Strait of Malacca is the shortest route at the present comparing to the straits of Sunda and Lombok

If Thailand can start the Thai canal project, it will create a new world sea route. Ships from European and Middle Eastern countries will come directly to the Andaman coast pass the Thai canal to the Thai coast going to The Chinese ocean to go to China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea without having to pass through the three straits.

The distance and time comparisons of the present three routes with the Thai canal route are, the Thai canal route comparing to the strait of Malacca route (through Singapore) will save 1,200-1,400 km. or will save 2-3 days. The Thai canal route comparing to the strait of Sunda route will save 2,500-3,000 km. or will save 4-5 days. The Thai canal route comparing to the strait of Lombok route will save 3,000-3,500 km. or will save 5-7 days. (Sea Vessel velocity passing through straits cannot exceed 12 nautical miles per hour or about 20 kilometers per hour)

The presence of the Thai canal will save time and distance of various sea vessels and will save millions of baht in costs of every trip. The expenses of large sea freights are higher than you think, especially after the 9/11 incident in 2002, transportation insurance has increased by 50 percent.

The expense cost for an 8,000 TEU freight ship (with 20 foot containers) is not 10 or 20 million baht per day. From our perspective will might feel that it is very expensive. I had an opportunity to talk to the managing director of a Japanese shipping company in Thailand. He said that the costs in operating a container carrying vessel such as the Panamax (a container cargo ship which can hold 8,000 containers) is about six million dollars or 240 million bahts per day. (I’m surprised with the costs) If the cargo in every container is valued 50,000 dollars (2 million baht), the estimate for the cargo value of the whole ship is twenty billion baht per trip. If the insurance cost is 0.5 percent per day including the ship, it would be about 100 million baht per day, when combined with the ship’s depreciation (after 8 years the value of the ship is only 45% of a new ship), normally the lifespan of a ship is 25 years, the older the ship gets the more risk insurance it pays. (Avoiding an Exxon Valdez-type catastrophe makes sense to the region's green activists, the Exxon Corporation, which owns the tanker in question, was equally messy. An estimated two score of lawsuits -- including a $2 billion class action suit) From this information, we know that the costs in operating large ships are very high so each ship has to save every cost especially in fuel, so even saving 1 hour of the trip means a lot. A large ship that travels on many trips in a year will save up to a billion baht per year.

From many reasons, sea freights around the world especially the ships that travel from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean will want to pass through the Thai Canal because it will save money and it is safer. All shipping companies want to cut costs except maybe shipping companies from Singapore (our dear neighbor) because passing through the Thai Canal creates only benefits. Large ships, 200,000 DWT (DWT is the weight of the ship without cargo in metric units) paying 20 million baht to pass through the Thai Canal will save from 2-5 times that amount in every trip. The shipping companies will be ready to pay. So, as for the question that asks, will there be ships using the Thai Canal? The answer is in itself for shipping company owners around the world.

Sea pirate or terrorist problems increase sea transportation costs

The problems involving damages, caused by terrorist or pirates that raid or hijack ships passing through those three routes happen frequently. News on cargo ship raids come up often because in the three routes, ships have to pass straits that have many capes and islands that are good hiding places for terrorists and pirates making it hard to prevent or eliminate. Ship officials wouldn’t want risks in fighting these outlaws because the ship’s cargo values several billion baht and the ships need to pass these routes oftenly so they choose to pay illegal escort or passing fees. These fees are estimated as high as 40,000 million baht (1,100 million dollars) per year.

Picture 4 Malacca strait, accident and pirate rates rising

Recently, there was talk about America’s Secretary of Defense visiting Asia, especially Singapore. Malaysia’s Secretary of Defense did not approve of the Navy fleet that America was preparing to send to protect terrorist incidents on cargo ships, such as Oil tankers which are 36% of the ships passing the Strait of Malacca. This shows instability creating higher insurance costs. The Thai Canal project is completed; it will ease this burden for Thai ships and international ships using the Thai Canal. (Statistics about pirate raids on cargo ship in the Strait of Malacca for May, 2003 is 21 incidents)

Currently international transport from Europe and the Middle East on the Andaman coast to the Thai coast heading for China, Japan, Korea, etc. uses three major routes (1) The strait of Malacca route (2) The strait of Sunda route and (3) The strait of Lombok route. There are more than one thousand ships passing those routes every day and there are more than 600 ships receiving service at the Singapore Pier. Due to heavy traffic in the present, there are 2-3 accidents in the Strait of Malacca every month and there are many ships that cannot use the Strait of Malacca route due to the depth of the strait, which is only 20 meters deep.

The Thai Canal will create an income for the country.

The Thai Canal will support tourism, generating income for the country, like Egypt will the Suez Canal, Panama with the Panama Canal. The Thai Canal will have the potential to let the largest amount of ships passing in the world. In the present there more than 30,000 ships larger than 500 DWT (DWT is the ships weight without cargo measured in metric units) traveling the seas around the world. In the present there are 22 canals. The best known is the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal.

Image 5 The Thai Canal will be a parallel canal.

In 2002, I accompanied a group of senators to both canals. We learned and got to understand many things such as, each canal creates more revenue from tourism than the passage fare. And that the Suez and Panama canals are the most used canals in the world is wrong. The Suez and Panama canal saves tens of thousands of kilometers and saves months of the trip but the ability of each canal is limited, especially the Panama Canal, which is 82 kilometers long with water gates.

Image 6 Geographic Information of the Panama Canal, Panama

The amount of ships that can pass the Panama Canal is only 38 ships per day, each ship takes 24 hours to clear the canal and the size of the ship is limited to 100,000 DWT. The ships that can pass can’t be wider than 33 meters and can’t be longer than 295 meters. (In the present, Panama has invested in increasing the size of the Panama Canal, with a budget of 4 billion dollars or one hundred sixty billion baht)

Image 7 Geographic Information, Suez Canal, Egypt

As for the Suez Canal, it is 190 kilometer long and is without water gates. 87 ships can pass everyday. The Suez Canal can allow large ships to pass, large ships up to 300,000 DTW. (In the present, they have invested in expanding the parallel canal to be 78 kilometers longer)

The Thai Canal in route 9A, will be 120-130 kilometers long and will also be without water gates like the Suez Canal. From calculations, the Thai Canal will be able to accommodate 400-450 ships per day. In real life, I guess that the Thai Canal will be able to service 300-350 ships per day. The Thai Canal will be a Parallel Canal with one canal for each direction of travel. The Thai Canal will be able to service 3 times more than the Suez and Panama Canals combined together.

The Thai Canal will create stability for Thailand.

The stability of the two coasts of Thailand will be higher for both the Navy and the Army. In the present, you can see that the entrance to the Thai Coast is closed. Every ship that leaves the Thai Coast and wishes to go to the Andaman Coast will have to pass through the waters of Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. If the Thai Canal is completed, it will be a direct route.

Image 8 Present route from the Thai Coast to the Andaman Coast

The Thai Canal will create advantages both in peaceful times and in war time. Mobilizing troops will be easier, will cost less, and will be safer. The Navy will have freedom in transportation without violating international waters, causing suspicion and harming international relations. In the present each time we move our troops, it can be seen by our neighboring countries. If we have a dispute will one of those countries, such as Malaysia, oil tankers or freight ships heading for Thailand can be blocked at any time, Thailand would be crippled because the oil can’t be transported to the refineries at Rayon and Chonburi. Transportation, production and business in the country will have severe effects.

The Thai Canal will save more than 200 billion baht worth of Logistic costs every year.

We will show you that the Thai Canal will enhance the country’s logistics and will save costs in sea transportation up to 200 billion baht every year. In the present, oil refineries in Thailand uses 800,000 barrels of crude oil, if we use a 120,000 barrel oil tanker it would take 7 oil tankers to deliver crude oil to the refinery at Rayong or Chonburi every day. When the delivery is made the tankers have to make an empty trip back so it actually equals 14 trips per day. Most of the oil comes from countries in the Middle East. If every ship has to pass the Strait of Malacca and from Singapore to get to the refinery in Thailand with a distance of 1,700 kilometers added to the distance from Singapore to the entrance of the Strait of Malacca which is not less than 1,300 kilometers. The total distance would be 3,000 kilometers of detour that the ships would have to take (see in image 2) If the Thai Canal is completed every ship could go directly to the refinery at Rayong with a distance of 700 kilometers which means that ships can save (3,000 – 700 = 2,300) 2,300 kilometers off every trip or with the speed of 12 nautical miles per hour (approximately 20 kilometers per hour) it will take 4-5 days off the trip. If we estimate the cost of a ship that size, the rental cost, the fuel cost including all the insurance in the trip, around 2-300 thousand dollars per day per ship or around 5-6 million baht per day. The total expense of the oil tanker saved by using the Thai Canal would be (ships traveling 14 trips per day times the daily costs of the ship, 5 million baht times 4 days the detour of the old route time 365 days will equal 14 x 5 x 4 x 365 = 102,200 million baht per year) Note: The calculations are just approximations

From only the costs of oil transportation to Thailand will save a lot of money for the country, if we look deeper in other transportations that will save costs such as, 4 million containers (TEU) from container freights that are handled through Thai ports at Lam Chabang or at the port of Bangkok. If we estimate 1,000 dollars for each container, it will save more than 100 billion every year. If we analyze the data we will see the money that is lost.

The total logistic costs in Thailand is 25-30% of the GDP or about 1,500,000 million baht to 1,800,000 million baht per year as compared to China 20%, Japan 11%, America 10% and EU countries 7% from global survey by the Department of Economics, Japan. (Meti)

The Thai Canal will expand Thai fishery.

The Thai Canal will create an opportunity for Thai fishing ships to use Thai’s oceanic boundaries (EEZ2, Image 2) in the Andaman coast which is an abundant source of fish and has more area than the whole isarn region of Thailand with boundaries to the ocean boundary of India.

Image 9 Map, International waters of Thailand (EEZ1 & EEZ2)

More than 50,000 Thai fishing ships inside and outside the Thai coast will receive benefits from being able to travel and operate in both coasts reducing costs from fuel. These fishing ships will be free from being caught in charge of invading neighboring country oceanic boundaries. I estimate that the overall benefit that they will receive will be more than 50,000 Mil. Baht (1,300 million dollars) per Year

The Thai Canal will bring prosperity to the south and solve the problems in the 3 southernmost provinces permanently

The two sides of the Canal will become large cities, economical cities that citizens from the whole country will move to work there, like in major port cities around the world. With the region’s potential and with the canal line on global sea routes, if the government starts a special economical area like in China. The area will prosper like Pudong in China. In 1987, Pudong was still farm land; it took 15 years to develop (Image 10) the two sides of the Canal became an export industrial city, a center of sea transport service. The two sides of the Thai Canal will become financial cities a center for new businesses, many industries both small and large. The area will become hope in employing 2-3 million workers permanently.

Image 10 Special Economical Zone, Pudong, Across from Shanghai, China, 2002

More importantly, the Thai Canal will bring prosperity to solve the problems in the 3 southernmost provinces softly and permanently because the Thai Canal will bring prosperity to the whole south of Thailand. The Thai Canal will create jobs and income for people in the area and for the whole country. The two sides will become cities that can support more than 3-4 million people, to work and prosper. These Thai citizens will be a natural border to protect Thailand, with no power or authority that can stop it.

Environmental problems

The key to solve environmental problems is management; problems that will happen from all the ships that pass our canal can be prevented with regulations for the ships that use the Thai Canal, to prevent waste from the ships to be dumped in the Thai Canal. The Thai Canal and the city would be organized and zoned perfectly. The problems from the ships can be controlled by international treaties and can be managed by engineers like in other port cities around the world. But the problem of a huge society and city will follow like in Bangkok. Planning the city growth should be prepared in 2 sides, 1 Protective City layout to prepare for facilities like water, power, waste treatment, transportation, etc. these issues can be planned ahead. The 2^nd side is the city layout should be planned continuously along with change and can be studied from major cities around the world.

Image 11 Displaying the location of the world’s major canals, the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal and the Thai Canal

As for the problems involving animals on both sides of the Canal, we can see that the Panama Canal is in between the continent of Africa, which is more than 40,000 kilometers long and in the narrowest part (20,000 kilometers) that separate the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, preventing sea animals from both sides to move, so the types of animals on both sides are very different. The Smithsonian Institute for studying sea animals is located near the Panama Canal.

As for the Thai Canal, we can see from the map that the south of Thailand and Malaysia is a large peninsula reaching the Indian Ocean. The Thai Canal will be less than 1,000 kilometers from the Malay Peninsula and the difference in water levels of both sides is less than 1 meter. Salt water from both sides can flow easily, the differences in sea animals on both sides are minimal, there are chances of fish breeding across the sides but the sizes would be different.

The salt level differences in the water of both sides can be measured and we will find that in the rainy season the salt level of the Thai coast will be lower than the Andaman coast, because water from streams and rivers will flow in to the coast. Normally the water in the Thai coast will circulate 2 times a year but waste water from houses, factories and agriculture is dumped in the Thai coast. After the Thai Canal is completed water from both sides will circulate better and be cleaner. The environmental problems that we are afraid of may turn into benefits. Protecting the environment is a very good thing to do but we can’t be lost from the subject and damage the opportunity of the country.

The Thai Canal will save distance, time, fuel consumption and global pollution.

The Thai Canal saves global fuel consumption and reduces air pollution in the world. It will have an impact on economics and the environment both directly and indirectly. Making a better world, the Thai Canal will save oil, worth more than 1 trillion baht per year (or worth Thailand’s annual national budget) And most importantly when fuel consumption is reduced, the pollution from using that fuel will decrease. The pollution that will rise into the atmosphere will reduce also

Image 12 The Thai Canal decreases the Greenhouse effect, cleaning the world and saving oil.

The amount of Carbon dioxide gas that causes global warming and effects Earth’s natural circles, causing the climate to change, causing seasons to change. If the damage of the Greenhouse effect can be summarized in money, it would be more than several trillion baht (in 2002 the estimate is 150 billion us dollars) which is 6 trillion baht or 6 times the annual budget for the whole country.

In Conclusion

What benefits will the Thai Canal create for Thailand?

1. The Thai Canal will be a new world economic route and will play a major part in world transportation, in economics and in world environment. The Thai Canal will be a symbol for Thailand, especially in Tourism. The Thai Canal will be one of the most beautiful man-made structures in the world. It will draw tourists from every part of the world, creating income for Thailand.

2. The Thai Canal will solve the problems in the 3 southernmost provinces softly, peacefully and permanently because the Thai Canal will create jobs, income, and prosperity throughout the southern part of Thailand. 3-4 million Thai citizens will move there to start a new generation of businesses by new generation citizens. These citizens will be a force stronger than an army that will protect the Kingdom of Thailand from any influences or obstacles.

3. The Thai Canal will be like a large stream passing Thailand, connecting the two coasts of Thailand together, creating an economical route and generating a flow of money from countries around the world to Thailand directly, creating jobs, income, a tourism attraction, a business center and a source of industries. There will be a warehouse to coordinate transportation and to store cargo from around the world for sea transportation. It will be the center of banks and businesses and international sea transportation, more than that, it will be a center of Thai industries and agricultural products for export, a service center providing food, water for ships that will generate income for the country.

4. The Thai Canal will benefit national security. The Thai Canal will enable transportation from the Thai Coast if with any reason it is shutdown. In normal times the Navy can move units in and out in training. Scouting and defending illegal ships along the international border. Transferring ships and naval units between the two coasts will not cause suspicion and pressure to neighboring countries. It will also save the time and money in transportation.

5. Fishing for more than 45,000 Thai fishing boats on both coasts can transport to both coasts easily, enabling those ships to reap the fruit from the abundant waters of Thailand, especially the Andaman Coast, which the boundary goes to the international boundary of India. The Thai Canal will save fresh-water costs, fuel costs that is used for transportation between the two coasts. Thai Fishing Ships will save both money and time. The estimated cost that can be saved is not less than 50,000 Million Baht per year

6. Creating Value and Decreasing poverty. The Thai Canal route will pass rural parts of the Southern part of Thailand. The area that the Canal route will pass would benefit from the prosperity and fishing opportunities. Citizens on both sides of the Canal will benefit equally. More than that, the Thai Canal will prevent floods caused by rainfall that happens frequently in the 14 southern provinces of Thailand, by letting the rain flow into the ocean.

7. The Thai Canal will open new roles for Thailand and enable Thailand in negotiating economically, politically and military powers with major world powers such as China and America (note: Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore receives a lot of financial benefits from America). Because the Thai Canal will be a major sea travel route for the world, there will be large cargo ships, travel cruisers from all around the world using the Thai Canal. Not only will the Thai Canal save time and fuel, it will be a safer route for sea transport. The present route suffers from pirates along the Malaca Strait. The Thai Canal will be able to let more ships pass than any other canal in the world. The layout of the Thai Canal will be a dual canal, safe from accidents. Accommodating 300 to 350 ships everyday ( Panama Canal 38 ships/day, Suez Canal 87 ships/day) The Thai Canal will accommodate ships as large as 300,000-500,000 tons, which is requested by shipping companies around the world.

8. Thailand will be able to refine oil that is cheaper than Singapore. The Thai Canal will enable Thailand to be an upstream oil refinery, with costs cheaper than Singapore because the transportation route is shorter and large oil tankers won’t have to travel to Singapore which will save costs. The ships using the Thai Canal will be main customers for the oil generating a huge amount of income from oil sales, enough for Thailand to determine the oil sales price and the illegal oil problems will not happen. At the present, Singapore sells oil to the ships that service there 56,700 tons per day. One month of Oil sales in Singapore is more than 1 year of sales in Thailand.

9. The Thai Canal will reduce cost in logistics of goods in Thailand both inbound and outbound. Thailand consumes more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil which is mostly imported from countries in the middle-east by sea to refineries in the country. Each oil tanker has to route around Singapore, the time it takes to get to Thailand is 5 days to Thailand and 5 days back, with a total of 10 days. If the Thai Canal is present, it would take 2 days. If we estimate the cost that Thailand has to pay, only in oil transport alone, it would be more than 100,000 Million Baht per year. If we summarize other import-export goods to and from Thailand both Industrial and Agricultural, the Thai Canal would save another 100,000 Million Baht per year. (Thailand's logistics cost is now 25-30% of the gross domestic product (1,500,000 -1,800,000 Million Baht per year) compared with 20% in China, 11% in Japan, 10% in the United States and 7% in the European Union, according to a recent survey by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Meti)

10. The Thai Canal will create a bigger role in the development of the countries in Southeast Asia, on both Thai Coasts, in the Indian Ocean and in the Pacific. Other countries will benefit from costs that will be reduced in sea transportation such as transport from India to China or Japan that the Thai Canal route will save 5 days of transport, valuing several ten Million baht per trip. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Japan, Korea, Philippines or even Malaysia will benefit from The Thai Canal, creating a huge advantage in diplomacy with Malaysia because the Thai Canal will shorten the route and the time of Malaysia ships that use the Thai Canal to transport to the northern part of Malaysia. ( Malaysia request permission from Thailand to open the border for land transportation, if the Thai Canal is constructed, Thailand can stop ground Transportation)

11. The Greenhouse Effect. The Thai Canal will save fuel in transportation and reduce world pollution problems that are causing the Greenhouse Effect in the atmosphere. That in turn, causes natural disasters that are more severe everyday and effecting Thailand. At the present, America hasn’t signed the Tokyo agreement on pollution reduction. If The Thai Canal is completed, it will help solve a part of this problem.

12. The Borderless Era of Thailand’s Economy. The Thai Canal will be the main source of Income for the country. We can use the potential of the Thai Canal to develop a financial strategy of the country without any other country competing because the geographical specialty is located only here in Thailand. The Thai Canal will be like a national resource, always creating profit for the Thai economy stably. In the World Trade Organization, all 147 member countries use trade strategies. In the future competition in international trade will be severe. We all know that the revenue from agricultural exports from Thailand is even less than revenues from tourism. Even though agricultural products are important for Thailand but there is no way that we can expect agricultural products to lead Thailand to prosperity. Information from the National bank of Thailand states that the value of agricultural products in Thailand is only 9-10% of Thailand’s GDP or around 500,000 Million baht and using half of the people of the country. Income from tourism is 700,000 Million Baht or even in the Industrial sector, the income we receive from our industrial products is from labor or assembly. The net income from the industrial sector seems high but is really only 25-30% of the export value.

20 years ago, our neighboring countries used to be our main customers such as China, India, and South Korea but now are our sellers. In the future we may be buying from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos or Burma because these countries still have lower labor costs and still has abundant natural resources. In the present countries that have run out of resources have already invested in these 4 countries. In the future these countries might sell agricultural GMO products competing with Thailand, as for Malaysia, they have already stepped ahead us by far.

So, the Thai Canal Project is hope and opportunity for the country to rise in financial and political stability. It is really a blessing that Thailand is located at this special spot. Is now the time for us to present these facts for the people? So the people can participate, to acknowledge and to help in deciding whether if this project is beneficial or not.

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