NBTC unveils 2023 plan to develop Inland Container Depot to support logistics hub

What is Inland Container Depot?

Mr. Wirot Amrapal, Governor of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT), revealed that the IEAT is in the process of expanding the Map Ta Phut Industrial Port, Phase 3, to support the transportation of NGV gas and liquid goods, as well as other related businesses.

This master plan will be applied in the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate/Industrial Port and Smart Park Industrial Estate as pilot areas.

It also serves as a model for industrial estate/industrial port management using data (Data Driven Management) for other industrial estates/industrial ports in Thailand to attract both Thai and foreign investors to invest in the industrial sector.

Mr. Wirit added that in the past, he had traveled to study the production of fresh water from the sea and the management of ports in Spain under the mission in 3 main issues: visiting the Port of Valencia, visiting the desalination system, holding a meeting to exchange ideas on the management of dry ports and the multimodal transportation system.

There is also a meeting to exchange ideas on dry port management and multimodal transportation systems in the industrial estate, which is the center of transportation and logistics systems of the country, in order to apply the model to the construction and provision of dry port services in the industrial estate area.

Due to the recognition of the efficiency of the dry port service of Spain, a country that uses a dry port system to support transportation logistics.

By facilitating international transportation by reducing the workload of sea ports and providing highly efficient rail or road transportation services.

Chachoengsao Province has also planned for a dry port. “Jirathat Chaempaiboon”, the president of the Chachoengsao Provincial Industrial Council, gave an interview about the overall Chachoengsao industry, saying that it is recovering to normal. Factories are starting to open at 100% capacity. Meanwhile, the policy and industrial development have set a goal to push forward the Chachoengsao Container Terminal (Dry Port) project or Inland Container Depot (ICD) on an area of approximately 700 rai in Nong Tin Nok Subdistrict, Ban Pho District, Chachoengsao Province. The province wants the project to be completed within 2-3 years.

Inland Container Depot is a container station that has customs procedures for both imported and exported goods. It is called a warehouse for inspecting and releasing imported goods and packing exported goods transported in containers outside the port area or a bonded warehouse that has customs procedures only for exported goods or simply called a dry port.

Chachoengsao Province is one of the areas in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) with 4 industrial estates, namely:

1. Wellgrow Industrial Estate
2. Chachoengsao Industrial Estate Blue Tech City
3. Industrial Estate 304 Park
4. TFD 2 Industrial Estate

With over 2,000 small, medium and large factories, the provincial industrial sector has planned to push forward the main issue of container freight stations.

For this area, it is suitable for developing a container freight station project (dry port) because it is close to the train station, which can support the collection and distribution of goods in the Northeast and the Kingdom of Cambodia through Sa Kaeo Province.

Connecting the transportation of goods to the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) development project area and Laem Chabang Port to upgrade the country’s logistics to become a comprehensive transportation hub.

At the same time, the governor of Chachoengsao Province also tried to push for it because if there is a dry port, it will help the industrial sector a lot, both in terms of transportation connecting the rail system to Laem Chabang and creating a circular economy.