TAK, March 18 – The Moei River is drying up in Tak’s Mae Sot district, bordering Myawaddy in Myanmar, affecting goods transport between Thailand and Myanmar.
Today the riverbed became a trail of sandbars that have become sand dunes, a problem for the transport sector here.
Phanchai Pankaew, an entrepreneur at a freight pier in Mae Sot, said the river has dried up earlier than usual this year, disrupting goods transportation, delaying sales and deliveries, and resulting in leftover goods.
In Thasailuad sub-district, 20 piers have halted commodity transport to the other side of the river in Myawaddy due to rocks and sand dunes.
Some piers have workers and machinery to excavate the accumulated sand, making a deep channel for ferries. Such transport costs are rising due to the expense of fuel cost for running sand pumps and additional labour costs.
Some entrepreneurs change to deliver goods across the Thai-Myanmar bridge with a higher cost of transportation and more processes. Ferry owners turn to other temporary jobs during the dry season.
If the water level drops further, workers may be hired to porter goods across the dry river bed, but this too will take more time and add costs
