New public berth to be opened in Thai East

BANGKOK, June 19 (TNA) - Thailand will, next month, inaugurate a large-scaled deep seaport facility as a new public berth at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in the Thai East to serve regional cargo ships and to relieve the increasingly congestion of the existing deep seaports at Map Ta Phut. Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) Governor Veerapong Chaiperm stressed on Monday that the new Maptaphut Industrial Terminal (MIT) in Rayong Province, run and managed by his state-run IEAT, is now expected to be launched for public services by next month as targeted. Veerapong said his agency has been licensed by the Thai Ministry of Transport to operate the MIT to cater for the maximum of 60,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT)-cargo ships. According to the IEAT chief, the 1,024mx12m-MIT has four ports to serve oversized cargo initially and to later serve cargo containers. The IEAT chief projected that the new MIT should help increase the capacity of deep seaports at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Rayong Province by up to about seven million tons a year and to ease the congestion of other ports in the eastern Thai region. Besides, the new MIT will support Thailand's present National Economic and Social Development Plan (NESDB) 2017-2021 and the government's new Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Project on developing the eastern Thai region to become a leading special economic zone connecting with other member countries in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) as a regional marine transport and logistics hub with a full-fledged advanced electronic management system and to enhance the national competitiveness. The IEAT governor noted that the new MIT will connect with the Sattahip Deep Seaport and the Laem Chabang Deep Seaport in the nearby eastern Thai Chon Buri Province. There are 32 ports at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, run by 12 public and private operators, all of which meet international standards. (TNA)