Pattaya, Sept. 12, 2014 – (People's Daily Online) Ms. Siriporn Chonwanit, Chief of Public Relation Section in Laem Chabang Port, highly praised the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road strategy, and thought it will bring more opportunities to the port and boost the trade cooperation among ASEAN countries.

During its trip to Thailand, People′s Daily Online paid a visit to Laem Chabang, Thailand′s biggest deep-sea port.

Laem Chabang Port is Thailand′s biggest trade port for cargo containers. It covers a total area of 1.000 acres of land and is divided into three phases, one of which is still under development. Phase 1 is the main hub and it has been built 14 meters under the sea level; Phase 2 built 16 meters under the sea level.

Last year, Laem Chabang Port's throughput reached 6 million TEUs (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units), compared with Bangkok Port, a river port that had a throughput of 1 million TEUs in 2013. Although controlled by the Port Authority of Thailand, Laem Chabang is a private port. Around 15 percent of all import/export trade in this port is done with China.

According to Ms. Chonwanit, this trade hub has seen a great development success due to its unique location in the heart of Southeast Asia, but also thanks to factors the country′s resources, skilled labor, infrastructures, and government policies.

Laem Chabang Port connects the East and the West via sea, and plays an important role as a gateway to neighboring countries such as Myanmar and Laos.

Laem Chabang Port imports and exports all kind of products, but its main source of work comes from trading raw materials, electrical appliances, vehicles produced in Thailand and also auto parts that will be assembled in other countries. To give an example, last year, 1.2 million cars were exported from this port, according to Ms. Chonwanit.

For Thailand and its ports, security is one of the main concerns. For that reason, Lam Chabang Port has one of the most sophisticated container-scanning systems on its port railway entrance for cargos, and the technology is from China.

Ms. Chonwanit also reckons that the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road strategy proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year will not only bring more development opportunities to the port, but will positively boost trade relations between China and Thailand, and between other ASEAN countries.