Sri Lankan’s Hambanthota Port signs a port-to-port collaboration agreement with Thailand’s Ranong Port
In order to develop shipping routes in the region, Sri Lanka’s China-controlled Hambantota Port signed a port-to-port collaboration agreement with Thailand’s Ranong Port. Recently Ranong Port signed a corporation agreement with the port of Krishnapatnam in India. Hambantota International Port claims the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) will promote Thailand’s strategy of boosting trade with India and Sri Lanka. The partnership is an attempt to create synergies between these two maritime sites.
Under the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sector Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), Thailand is presently pursuing a strategy to increase trade with India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Hambantota is already shipping Indian cars to and from Africa.
Thailand is also the hub for the production of automobiles. HIPG claims there is also potential on the side of the port of Hambantota in an industrial zone. China has also revived the concept of constructing a canal throughout Thailand, reducing shipping times to China and Japan, and helping to pass a Malacca Straits shock point.
The first stage of the contract would involve exchanging data with Ranong Port and HIPG and having collaboration in port management, activities, information technology, communication, port connectivity, port-related sectors and investment promotion to improve the growth of the two ports.
In the next steps, consideration was given to the opportunities of implementing coastal shipping between Ranong Port and Hambantota International Port to promote bilateral trade, investment, and maritime transport logistics.
After the signing ceremony, a unique seminar held on ‘ Thailand & Sri Lanka: Opportunity and Way Forward. ‘ The seminar’s primary objective was to encourage maritime transport, port/shipping, and port-to-port collaboration through this contract between Thailand and Sri Lanka.
OSL Take:
The Hambantota Port is located near the global shipping route and has the infrastructure needed to manage containers, general cargo, cars, passengers, oil, bulk terminals, gas, and project cargo. Foreign shipping businesses could, therefore, consider Hambantota port as their logistic corridor. Further, the industrial zone in the port premises would also give international businesses/industries many investment opportunities.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/07102019/Z_T1 |