PAT Reveals its Development Plans as It Celebrates the 70th Anniversary

Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) recently held a media briefing event, revealing its past year performance and business plans for 2021 at the Centara Grand at Central Plaza Ladprao, Bangkok.

The event began with an opening ceremony from Dr. Atirat Rattanaset, Deputy Minister of Transport as the president of the event, and Admiral Sophon Wattanamongkol, Chairman of Board of Commissioners of PAT, together with Lt.JG. Kamolsak Promprayoon, R.T.N., Director General of PAT

As the event continued, Lt.JG. Promprayoon, R.T.N. revealed the performance of the current fiscal year, “container and cargo volume in the first quarter of 2021 fiscal year is -6.24% or 25.762 million tons, comparing to the same period of the past year which was 27.476 million tons. As a result of the spreading of COVID-19 PAT’s port throughput is -2.81% or 2.311 million TEUs, comparing to the same period of the past year, which was 2.378 million TEUs.”  

“However, after Thailand and other countries started to provide COVID-19 vaccinations, we began to see a sign of recovery to the cargo and container throughput. Together with the economic expansion in the countries of our main business partners, our port throughput has increased to 9.253 million tons or 3.57% in January 2021, comparing to the same period of the past year, which was 8.934 million tons. Our container throughput has also increased by 2.66% or 0.773 million TEUs, comparing to 0.753 million TEUs of the same period in the prior year,” he added.

As PAT celebrates its 70^th anniversary, it will move forward with a strategy to elevate itself as a leading port business by developing infrastructures to a global standard while acting as the main gateway and a transportation hub of Southeast Asia, adding values to its facilities as well as improving its services.   

PAT will become a high-efficiency organization by adopting the Port Community System (PCS), seamlessly connecting sea freight and logistics information from Government and private entities concerning Thailand’s logistics ecosystem. This will also enable PAT to support the international logistics network in the near future.

“To meet with the global standards, PAT will develop the infrastructures of its regional facilities, including Laem Chabang Port, Bangkok Port, and its regional ports. Coinciding with this development scheme is the Laem Chabang phase 3 development project, which will expand its capacity for larger vessels and its capability to support up to 18 million TEUs per year. We will be embracing technological and innovative development as we push Laem Chabang Port towards the title of ‘future port’ and the main port of our region,” Lt.JG. Promprayoon, R.T.N. explained.

“In addition, we will develop a rail transportation hub within Laem Chabang Port as we will construct a 960,000 meters container yard for rail cargo. The hub will be equipped with the Rail Mounted Gantry Crane (RMG) and will support up to 12 trains. The barge terminal development project for Laem Chabang Port will also grant the Port a complete domestic transportation and logistics connection,” he continued.

As for Bangkok Port, PAT will develop the Port’s infrastructure, facilities, equipment, and internal operation as PAT aims to make it a high-efficiency organization. Development projects for Bangkok Port include the 20G barge terminal development project, which will support multimodal transport, domestic logistics chain development schemes, and the west quay development project, which will embrace a semi-automated operation.

Adding to the bunch is the development project that will connect Bangkok Port to the Expressway Authority of Thailand’s S1 expressway. The project will serve the purpose of supporting multimodal transportation by developing Thailand’s logistics network. This will elevate Thailand’s domestic logistics network while improving the living standards of Bangkok Port’s surrounding community.

As the event came to its conclusion, the Director General of PAT expressed his strong confidence that the organization will smoothly meet with its vision of ‘becoming the leading port organization with unmatched logistics services and sustainable growth by 2030.’

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