Abstract
Abstract This chapter explores situation of sea navigation in south East Asia focusing on the Strait of Malacca. The strait links the Indian and Pacific oceans, which is considered one of the busiest in several narrow water channels around the world. The paper highlights the significance of the strait to global maritime trade, volume of traffic, and rising environmental and social consequences. A feasibility study of constructing a new shipping canal in the South Thai Kra Isthmus as an alternative option of Malacca route had been studied since 19th century. The paper examines suitable sites for a potential shipping canal in the Kra Isthmus using physiographic spatial data i.e., elevation, sea charts, geology, soils, and river systems. Each spatial data was considered as a separate decision variable for site evaluation. Separate evaluation criterions were prepared for each variable based on shipping canal requirements. Overlaying the maps in ArcGIS environment, the variables were carefully evaluated, and five suitable sites were suggested. The length of the shipping canal over sea and land was computed for each site. Site B located in south of Ranong and Chumphon provinces, was found shortest one, whereas site C in Surat Thani, Pangnna and Krabi provinces, was the longest. However, each site consisted of benefits and constrains.
This chapter is improved from “Rajesh Bahadur Thapa, Michiro Kusanagi, Akira Kitazumi, and Yuji Murayama (2007), Sea navigation, challenges and potentials in South East Asia: An assessment of suitable sites for shipping canal in South Thai Isthmus, GeoJournal, 70, 161–172”, with permission from Springer.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
CCOP EPF. (2002). Thailand: Geology, petroleum and potentials. Retrieved January 7, 2007, from http://www.ccop.or.th/epf/thailand/thailand_petroleum.html#5
Crawford, R. J. M., Davis, S. A., Harding, R., Jackson, L. F., Leshoro, T. M., Meÿer, M. A., et al. (2000). Initial effects of the treasure oil spill on seabirds off Western South Africa. Avian Demography Unit Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Cape Town. Retrieved 27, 2006, from http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/stats/adu/oilspill/oilspill.htm
EIA. (2008). World oil transit checkpoints, country analysis brief. Energy Information Administration. Official Energy Statistics, the US Government. Retrieved December 26, 2010, from http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/World_Oil_Transit_Chokepoints/Full.html
ES. (2002). The executive summary of the Kra Canal project identification. Subcommittee Kra Canal Project, Defence Commission, Thai Parliament.
Harper, S. B. (1999, October). Morphology of tower Karst in Krabi, Southern Thailand. Proceedings of the annual meeting of Geological Society of America, Denver, CO.
ICC-IMB. (2008). Piracy and armed robbery against ships. London: Annual Report, ICC IMB.
Khalid, N. (2007). The trans-peninsula pipeline: A maritime perspective. Maritime Institute of Malaysia. Retrieved February 3, 2008, from http://www.mima.gov.my/
Kuppuswamy, C. S. (2004). Straits of Malacca: Security implications. South Asia analysis group (SAAG) (paper no 1033).
Mariner Group. (2005). The mariner group – oil spill history. Retrieved May 1, 2005, from http://www.marinergroup.com/oil-spill-history.htm
MDM. (2008). Vessel Report to Klang VTS (1999–2007). Statistics, Marine Department Malaysia. Retrieved February 2, 2008, from http://www.marine.gov.my/index.html
Mitropoulos, E. (2004). Special lecture, Japan international transport institute. Retrieved May 1, 2005 from http://www.imo.org/Pages/home.aspx
Mukundan, P. (2008). Reported piracy incidents rise sharply in 2007. International chamber of commerce – commercial crime services. Retrieved February 4, 2008, from http://www.icc-ccs.org/
Pasertsri, N. (2005). Kra Isthmus history (The Thai-Canal). Retrieved January 7, 2007, from http://www.thai-canal.org/hist%20E.htm
Permal, S. (2006). Indonesia’s efforts in combating piracy and armed robbery in the Straits of Malacca. Maritime Institute of Malaysia. Retrieved February 3, 2008, from http://www.mima.gov.my/
Permatasari, S. (2007). Malaysian pipeline developer in stake sale talks. Bloomberg News, International Herald Tribune (published in 21 June 2007)
Rodrigue, J. P. (2005). Transportation geography on the Web. Department of Economics & Geography, Hofstra University, New York.
ShippingFact. (2005). Overview of the international shipping industry. London: International Chamber of Shipping and International Shipping Federation.
TAMS. (1973). Preliminary survey report – Kra Canal Complex. TAMS & PRNA, September 1.
TED. (2005). Canal construction on Thai Isthmus (CANALTH). Trade and environment database – Asia case. Retrieved May 1, 2005, from http://www.american.edu/TED/canalth.htm
Thapa, R. B., Kusanagi, M., Kitazumi, A., & Murayama, Y. (2007). Sea navigation, challenges and potentials in South East Asia: an assessment of suitable sites for a shipping canal in the South Thai Isthmus. GeoJournal, 70, 161–172.
UNCTAD. (2004). Review of maritime transport 2004. Geneva: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
UNCTAD. (2006). Review of maritime transport 2006. Geneva: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
UNCTAD. (2008). Review of maritime transport 2008. Geneva: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
UNEP. (2005). Accidental discharges of oil. Global marine oil pollution information gateway. Retrieved July 15, 2006, from http://oils.gpa.unep.org/facts/oilspills.htm#intelligence
VIC. (2002). Thailand’s Kra Canal–special report. Virtual Information Center. Retrieved May 20, 2004, from http://www.vic-info.org/
Acknowledgements
We appreciate the members of the National Kra Committee, Thailand, Prof. Tawatchai Tingsanchali, Asian Institute of Technology, Dr. Sompoch Puntavoungkor, Royal Thai Survey and Mr. Jun Nogami, Asian Institute of Technology for their enthusiastic supports in this research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thapa, R.B., Kusanagi, M., Kitazumi, A., Murayama, Y. (2011). Spatial Allocation of the Best Shipping Canal in South Thailand. In: Murayama, Y., Thapa, R. (eds) Spatial Analysis and Modeling in Geographical Transformation Process. GeoJournal Library, vol 100. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0671-2_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0671-2_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0670-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0671-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)