When it comes to internationally famous sea lanes, in addition to the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal, there is also a Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia. However, there is another possible alternative to the Strait of Malacca, and that is the "Kra Canal".
The Kra Canal is envisioned
Kra Canal
The Kra Canal is a canal conceived in Thailand in the 17th century, and the plan was to dig the Kra Isthmus to act as a canal.
Located between Chumphon and Ranong provinces in Thailand, the Kra Isthmus is only about 56 kilometers at its narrowest point, and is theoretically suitable for canal excavation.
Therefore, in the 70s of the 17th century, the then King of the Ayutthaya Dynasty of Thailand Narai envisioned digging a canal here in the Kra Isthmus to open up the trade routes between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
However, Thailand at that time had limited national strength and did not have strong productive forces like those industrial countries, so the plan was shelved.
Later, during the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia, Japan also intended to open the Kra Canal after taking control of Thailand to ensure its trade security.
Historical materials related to Japan's invasion of Southeast Asia
However, not long after Japan took control of Thailand, Japan was defeated, and before it could carry out the project, Japan withdrew from Southeast Asia.
Although the opening of the canal has not been completed for 200 years, Thailand has always had this idea.
After all, the canal is a "cash cow" that can bring great wealth.
If the Kra Canal is opened, the distance between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean will be about 1,200 kilometers less than that of the Strait of Malacca.
The toll paid by the ships passing through here, as well as the cost of services incurred by the ships for their possible stay, would be a great benefit.
For example, the Suez Canal in Egypt's hands can provide Egypt with a toll of $300,000 for a single pass, which can provide Egypt with about $6 billion a year.
Suez Canal
Egypt's annual GDP is about $470 billion, and the Suez Canal, which costs more than 1% of Egypt's GDP every year.
Let's assume that the Kra Canal will attract half of the traffic of the Straits of Malacca, which is about 50,000 ships per year. Let's assume a toll of $100,000 per boat, which is about $500 million per year.
Although this money is not as much as the Suez Canal in Egypt, it is also a lot of money in the long run. After all, who would hate making more money?
However, although the Kra Canal can generate stable revenue, Thailand's vision of the Kra Canal has always been only an idea, not an action.
You must know that before the last century, Thailand did not dig the Kra Canal because of its lack of productivity, but in this century, even if Thailand's own productivity is insufficient, it can still ask for "foreign aid" and pay other countries to help it build the canal.
canal
So why is it that Thailand still hasn't built this canal to this day?
The Kra Canal doesn't necessarily make money
There are two reasons behind this. The first reason is that the Sukkra Canal in Thailand is not necessarily profitable.
After all, building a canal is not a non-starter, and you need to make a huge investment in the early stage.
According to the plan, if Thailand needs to excavate the Kra Canal, it will involve 102 kilometers of isthmus, and a two-way canal with a width of 400 meters and a depth of 25 meters will need to be dug.
The project will take 10 years and will cost more than $30 billion.
Based on the calculation above that the strait brings in $500 million a year in revenue for Thailand, it will take 60 years for the $30 billion to be recouped.
And in the past 60 years, Thailand will continue to maintain the canal-related facilities and pay the relevant staff, which means that Thailand's investment in the canal will be far more than 30 billion US dollars.
In addition, the assumption above that the Kra Canal diverts half of the flow of the Strait of Malacca every year is also an idealistic scenario.
Because although the Strait of Malacca is an extremely important shipping lane, it does not charge money. As a natural strait, the Strait of Malacca follows freedom of navigation and therefore does not charge tolls.
Strait of Malacca
Although the Kra Canal saves about 1,200 kilometers compared to the Strait of Malacca, no one can say whether the 1,200 kilometers are really worth $100,000 in freight.
The Suez Canal can charge 300,000 US dollars per ship, because without the Suez Canal, if it is to navigate the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, it will need to go around the whole of Africa, which requires an additional 10,000 kilometers, so passing ships have to pay the 300,000 US dollars in tolls.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, the vast majority of ships will still choose the free Strait of Malacca instead of the toll Kra Canal.
Thailand's $30 billion invested in it, I really don't know how much it will take to earn back the cost in the Year of the Monkey.
The issue of separatism in the Malay Peninsula
The second reason is the separatist tendencies around the Kra Isthmus.
We need to note that there are many countries in the world that have their own headaches with sovereignty issues, and Thailand is no exception.
The geographical location of Kra Isthmus is on the Malay Peninsula, and it has the name "Malay Peninsula", so everyone should know that it has something to do with Malaysia.
Malaysia is a very typical Islamic country. Therefore, in the Malay Peninsula, there are also a large number of Muslims.
Muslims in Southeast Asia
The dominant religion in Thailand is Buddhism, and there are many Muslims in the Malay Peninsula, so this religious conflict naturally arises.
In addition, Thailand also has "Great Tai Nationalism", and there are strong populist tendencies in the country, so there are relatively strong separatist tendencies in the Malay Peninsula.
Therefore, building a canal on the Malay Peninsula is a very troublesome thing for Thailand.
Malaya
Regardless of whether it can make money or not, once the canal is built, exchanges between the north and south of the Malay Peninsula will plummet, and the Thai government's control over the southern part of the Malay Peninsula will be weakened, and the separatist tendencies here will gradually become stronger.
By analogy, we can assume that there is a narrow land passage between the two sides of the Chinese strait, and if the situation in other aspects of the Taiwan issue remains unchanged, the mainland side will actually not dig this land passage to build a canal out of political considerations.
Therefore, for Thailand, the construction of the Kra Canal is not only extremely slow to pay for itself, but also likely to divide the country, so the construction of this canal will simply do more harm than good.
Maybe we won't see this canal excavated for the rest of our lives.
Resources:
[1] Reference News: "Thailand Faces Multiple Challenges in Pushing the Land Bridge Project"
[2] The Paper: "Why is it difficult to land this Kra Canal? 》