The Appropriate Characteristic of the Royal Thai Navy Ship for Operate and Support Combating Oil Spills at Thai sea

Abstract

This research aims to study desirable characteristics of surface ships for taking the roles as the unit of operation and support combating oil spills in the sea. As a result, the Royal Thai Navy will be equipped with proper tools for mission operation in accordance with the prevention and eradication of water pollution with regard to oil spill and the national plan for maritime security. In this regard, logic of force planning, as part of the strategy and force planning framework theory, is applied as a research guideline. The globalization theory is also used for explaining the origin of strategy. This research is a qualitative research based on documents, relevant environmental states, and technology. The data is collected by questionnaires from the samples, obtained by purposive sampling, and in-depth interviews with experts from national maritime security agencies, scholars who have studied impacts of oil spills, and guru of ship characterization.

The results reveal that globalization trends have caused higher worldwide demand for oil, along with non-traditional threats the also include marine environmental problems caused by oil spills. There are still frequent opportunities for oil spills in Thailand. Unfortunately, the Royal Thai Navy, as the unit in charge of operation and support combating oil spills in the sea, is ready to handle the situation at a certain level only due to a small number of tools and ships that fail to cover risky areas for oil spills in the sea. Nonetheless, initial preparations can be conducted by improving certain types of the Royal Thai Navy ships in order to enhance capabilities of combating oil spills. For long-term preparation, new surface ships must be procured, with the key characteristics in terms of worthiness, multipurpose use, necessary capabilities, and multiple-operation support. However, the characteristics of surface ships obtained are still just the concepts the have not been delved into technical details yet.