Ferry service between Vietnam’s Phu Quoc resort island and the Pattaya area could begin by the end of next year if the city and a large shipbuilder’s plans come to fruition.
Deputy Mayor Bandit Kunnajukr met with representatives from ferry builder Bing Han Co. and Torpong Chaiyasan, advisor to the Thai-Asian Cultural and Economic Council, Dec. 15 to discuss plans for Thailand’s first marine service linking the two countries.
The ferry service would run between Juk Samet Pier in Sattahip and the white-sand beaches of the island Vietnam’s far southwest.
No other details of the proposal were given, but Bing Han executives invited Pattaya city officials to take a test voyage in May.
Currently there are no scheduled boat services between Vietnam and Thailand. A Vietnamese firm, Duong Dong Express, operated seven-day, six-night high-speed boat trips between Rach Gia, on Vietnam’s mainland opposite Phu Quoc, and Cambodia, Pattaya and Bangkok in 2012, but the company is now out of business.
A ferry service would be the second operated out of the Pattaya area after the Hua Hin service begun early this year. The government’s Eastern Economic Corridor plan envisions Pattaya and Sattahip becoming a hub for marine-transport services linking Pattaya with all of Southeast Asia.
