Bangkok – The Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) will begin distributing the terms of reference (TOR) of the 3rd-phase of Laem Chabang Port on November 5 before receiving bids early in January 2019. The port’s third phase is expected to be operational in the next five years.
Director of the Laem Chabang Port, Pol. Sub-Lt. Montri Rerkchamnian, said the Cabinet had already approved the public-private partnership form of investment for the port expansion project. The winning bidders will be announced around February 2019, said the director.
The construction of the Laem Chabang Port will take five years to complete with a tentative opening in 2023 – 2024. More than 20 Thai and foreign companies have expressed interest in investing in the project whose EHIA is expected to be approved in December this year.
Once open, the Laem Chabang Port 3rd Phase will increase the port’s capacity to accommodate containers from 11.1 million units per year to 18.1 million units per year and cars from two million units per year to three million. The Laem Chanbang Port expansion will also save transport costs by as much as 250 billion baht.