Since May 2021, ship arrivals at Yangon ter­minals have steadily increased, driven by Maersk Line Myanmar (SeaLand Maersk) launching three new container services to meet seaborne trade demand, while the ex­tension of the Yangon River’s draft to 10 me­tres has also enabled larger ocean liners

A total of 541 container vessels arrived at the Yangon Port in the past nine months of 2025, the Myanma Port Authority an­nounced.

A total of 62 container ves­sels in January 2025, 53 in Febru­ary, 58 in March, 62 in April, 65 in May, 62 in June, 60 each in July and August and 59 in September.

This month, 68 container vessels are scheduled to call at the Yangon Port.

Yangon Port handled 633 container vessels in 2024 and 629 in 2023. Thanks to the draft ex­tension, the international ocean liners can access the inner port for now, according to the Myan­ma Port Authority’s statement on 22 June 2022.

After the new navigation channel (Kings Bank Channel) accessing the inner Yangon River was found, the draft ex­tension work was accelerated. Afterwards, the port can now handle larger ships. The con­tainer vessel MV SITC Zhaom­ing (185.99-metre LOA, 35.25-me­tre Beam, 29,232 GRT and 2,698 TEUs) of Hong Kong SAR-based SITC Shipping Line docked at Asia World Port Terminal for the first time on 22 June, which is the largest ship that AWPT Port has handled.

From May 2021, the arriv­al of the ships at terminals in Yangon has increased again. Three new container vessels by Maersk Line Myanmar (SeaL­and Maersk) started to run to fulfil the seaborne trade re­quirements in 2021. Earlier, the larger ships had draft problems, preventing sailing on the Yan­gon River. With the draft being extended up to 10 metres, the larger ocean liners can enter the Thilawa Port. — NN/KK