Kra canal project and its influence on world maritime trade

Suez Canal and Panama Canal are two successful inventions in maritime trade that built in order to abridge ship line from one port to another port. Effectiveness is given by these canals for problem solving such as faster than without passing them on. There are also too many problems take place as before existing canals were built: too long voyage, piracy, and limited dimension. Currently, Malacca Strait is one of the busiest straits in the world with this congestion and pirates attack. Vessels who are sailing from Indian Ocean to South China Sea, vice versa, should pass Malacca Strait (known also as Singapore Strait) for the shortest voyage. Unfortunately, this strait is overcapacity and lack of safety. Kra Canal is one of the invention to solve Strait of Malacca problems that has already been discussed since 1863. Kra Canal is an idea of constructing the canal planned for the shortcut of the voyage to shorten without passing the Strait of Malacca anymore. Its location is in Southern Thailand and will connect directly with the Andaman Sea. Its length is about 102 km, 400 meters wide with a depth of more than 20 meters. Processing of this canal is required approximately 8-10 years with predicted that will shorten the journey about 1,200 km between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Our objective on this thesis is simulating the voyage through Kra Canal and Malacca Strait using Netpass Distance program to know the voyage distance and time changes and ARENA simulation software to simulate the voyage. It is estimated that the Kra Canal will shorten the voyage between two to five days. It is foreseen that construction of this canal will affect the world economy, maritime transportation and the countries close to this canal.