History of Thai maritime trade

Abstract

The Thai commercial fleet can carry about 10 % of the volume of imports and exports. The history of Thai maritime trade is divided into 4 periods: 1) the Sukhothai period (1238-1438); 2) the Ayutthaya (1350-1767) and Thonburi (1767-1782) periods; 3) the early Rattanakosin period (c. 1782-1910), and 4) the first of the national fleet period (1918-1925). The Sukhothai period era involved trade with various foreign countries. In the King Ramkhamhaeng era (1279-1299), trade was prosperous from China via the Gulf of Thailand, and from India via the Indian Ocean. During the Ayutthaya and Thonburi periods, traders of various nationalities came to trade via both the Gulf of Thailand (the South China Sea) and the Indian Ocean. Trading in the Ayutthaya period was a monopoly trade, operated by monarchs and noblemen, and all ships used were Chinese and Southeast Asia (South China Sea) junks. The Rattanakosin period had Siam (now Thailand) enter into the Burney Treaty; the outcome of the agreement was that the country had to cancel its monopoly trade and end trade by the government. The growth of trade increased. The old production structure was self-transformed into production for export. The first of the national fleet period took place during 1918-1925. After World War I (1914-1918), King Rama VI (1910-1925) established a Thai merchant fleet, named “Siam Commercial Maritime Company Limited”, in April, 1918. It was terminated in 1925. On June 22, 1940, the Thai cabinet approved the establishment of Thai Maritime Navigation Company Limited for international maritime shipping. The Thai cabinet terminated this in 2011. The merchant fleet was not growing; because of this lack of a sizeable Thai merchant fleet, there is a lack of negotiating power with foreign merchant fleets. The government must set up a policy to promote the merchant fleet.