19 May
Yangon, a commercial hub of Myanmar is a major city operating main maritime trade ports to export and import commodities. Strenuous efforts were made to improve the ports and jetties and the city has built eight new jetties for its ports within three years.
Thanks to these new jetties, Myanma Port Authority stated that it handled more than three million containers during this period. Number of jetties in Yangon increased to 41, up from 33.
Trade development
Yangon port plays an important role because it handled more than 90 per cent of the country’s international maritime trade. New jetties were built in Yangon port while maintenance was carried out to handle cargo ships that came into the port. There can be trade development only when numbers of ports and jetties were increased and improved. Without this, any increase in demand and supply could be choked off with lack of ports and jetties through which the goods flow through.
Myanmar with 1,385 miles long coast line has only nine sea ports and before better ports can be built at better locations, efforts must be made toward building new jetties.
Construction of new jetties
Jetties built and in use at Yangon Port, Green Asia jetty, Wilma International jetty, Elite Petro Chemical jetty and Myanmar International Terminal Thilawa were 200 meters long.
New jetties were also built to tackle increasing import to and export from Yangon Thilawa Special Economic Zone. A 135 meter long jetty was built at Puma Energy Asia Sun Jetty while two jetties each with a length of 400 meters had been constructed with ODA loan from Japan.
As more factories and businesses starts operating at Thilawa SEZ, there’ll be more flow of export and import good requiring more jetties and container yards.
Local and foreign investment at Thilawa SEZ amounted to some US$ 1.5 billion until January 2019. These investments were made by 103 companies from 18 countries. To date Thilawa SEZ had been hosting 63 factories with more than 7,000 workers in addition to some 1,500 construction workers at construction sites.
To attract more investments, infrastructures and services need to be improved. Having more jetties is thus an improvement in the infrastructure.
During the more than there-year terms of the present government, eight new jetties were built at Yangon Port. According to statistics of Myanma Port Authority, Yangon Port handled more than three million containers or 76,323,581 tons of commodities during this period.
A steel jacket type main jetty measuring 400 meters long and 40 meters wide and three 80 x 20 meter approach bridges were built at Thilawa SEZ with $ 300 million. This was part of the port development arrangement for easy loading and unloading of vessels as well as reducing the loading and unloading time.
The jetties at Ahlon Port, Myanmar Industrial Port, Bo Aung Kyaw Port and Thilawa Port of Yangon play a key role for both local and international maritime trade of Myanmar. In face development of jetties at Yangon Port contribute greatly toward the economic growth of the nation. (Translated by Than Tun Aung)
