Posted on June 22, 2026
By Zetta Hannany, Ramdhani Pratama
JAKARTA – The Thai government has revived its 1 trillion baht or around USD 30 billion Land Bridge project, which is designed as an alternative route for trade flows that have long depended on the Malacca Strait.
As quoted by Reuters, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is pushing to accelerate the project after the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz again highlighted the vulnerability of global supply chains to strategic shipping routes.
The Land Bridge project will connect two new deep-sea ports, namely Chumphon in the Gulf of Thailand and Ranong on the Andaman Sea coast. The two ports will be linked by railways, highways, and logistics infrastructure spanning around 90 kilometres across the Thai Peninsula.
The Thai government claims the logistics corridor could cut logistics costs by nearly 30% and reduce shipping times by up to 14 days for cargo moving between southern China and ports in the Indian Ocean serving South Asia and the Middle East.
At the centre of the project is a standard-gauge railway designed to handle up to 20 million TEUs per year. The infrastructure will also connect with Thailand’s national rail network, highways, and other transport systems.
Director-General of Thailand’s Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning, Jiraroth Sukolrat, said the government is targeting the transshipment market that has long dominated port activity in the Malacca Strait.
“We want to capture part of this 80% market share, particularly the animal feed supply segment,” Jiraroth said.
According to government calculations, transporting goods using feeder vessels between the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea could reduce costs by around 10% and shorten shipping times by up to six days compared with routes through Singapore.
Economic challenges and public opposition
Despite offering logistics efficiencies, several analysts said the project still faces major challenges in competing with the Malacca Strait, which serves as a key shipping route between East Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
“This land bridge could ultimately… emerge as a modular national security asset aimed at securing local energy routes and improving Thailand’s own export capabilities to the West,” said Eugene Mark from the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
Mark said the logistics model, which requires goods to be unloaded from ships, transported by land, and then loaded onto another vessel, remains a major obstacle.
“Proving that this double-handling model can truly compete with seamless transit through the Malacca Strait remains the main hurdle,” he said.
Beyond economic challenges, the project also faces opposition from local communities along the development corridor. Residents are concerned that the large-scale project could disrupt fishing, agriculture, and the environment, which have long been their main sources of livelihood.
“Personally, I absolutely do not want that to happen,” said Ranong fisherman Chaiyaporn Arunrasamee.
In Phato District, known as a centre for durian and coffee production, some residents have questioned the urgency of developing new industrial areas.
“The durian industry in my hometown alone generates around 10 billion baht per year without needing to build anything new,” said coffee entrepreneur Chalermchart Seekhiao. (DH/ZH)
