Although the flow of the trade via air route and land route dropped in pandemic period, the Yangon port took more cargos via sea route this year compared to last year, said an official from Myanmar Port Authority (MPA).
“Despite the coronavirus outbreak across the country, Yangon port handled over 1.5 million tonnes of cargos from March to September in 2020 compared to 2019. So, the sea route seems to have a better flow of goods,” said U Sein Win, assistant general manager from Agent Department, MPA. From March to September 2020, there were a total of 6,900,040 tonnes of cargos in Yangon port, an increase of 1,578,843 tonnes compared to last year. In the same period of 2019, there were a total of 5,321,197 tonnes of cargos in the port, according to the official data from MPA.
However, a total of 1,074 cargo ships were docked in 2020, a drop of 27 ships in 2020 compared to the previous year. In 2019, there were 1,101 cargo ships docked in Yangon port. “About 85 per cent of Myanmar’s export and import is mainly conducted by the sea route. During the pandemic period, the export and import via air route and land route are suspended, and the export and import are conducted only via sea route,” said U Win Myint Aung, deputy director-general of Myanmar Maritime Department, MPA.
Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar