Thai canal project set to be scrapped as lines reject use

Plans to build a canal across Thailand's Isthmus of Kra that would have allowed ships to avoid the Malacca Straits are likely to be scrapped.

The Thai Communications Ministry said a feasibility study into the proposals found potential returns would be low because many lines said they would continue to use the straits to call at Singapore.

A ministry spokesman said: 'Singapore's status as the unchallenged shipping hub in Southeast Asia makes the projected traffic and possible economic and financial returns from the Kra Canal much less attractive'.

This was backed by a survey of 150 owners which found few would use the proposed waterway. The canal would have slashed three days off the journey between the South China Sea and the Andaman Sea.

However, Professor Kamonchanon Suthiwartnarueput, director of the Merchant Marine Institute at Chulalongkorn University, who carried out the industry survey said the benefits would have been wiped out by additional calls at minor Thai ports.

'The canal cannot be compared to Singapore port in terms of size, convenience or costs,' she said in her report.