Foreign investors and technicians are being courted by the Myanmar Port Authority to assist in developing the nation’s shipping terminals and ports, including the deep sea port at Kyaukpyu.

Kyaw Oo, the authority’s deputy chief engineer, said at an infrastructure summit recently that the country is currently lacking in the technological know-how and investment from foreign nations that it needs to make progress in the further development of deep-sea ports, terminals and other projects.

About 85 percent of the nation’s trade involves the maritime sector and most of that trade goes through the Yangon port, according to the deputy chief engineer as quoted in local media reports.

There are 24 terminals at the Yangon and Thilawa ports, but they are so congested with loading and unloading that only 70 percent of the port facilities can be used. Thilawa has six international terminals while Yangon has 18.

There are a total of nine local and international ports in Burma. Others are located at Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, Thandwe, Pathein, Mawlamyain, Dawei, Myeik and Kawthoung.

A retired official for the Myanmar Port Authority was quoted in local media as saying that the Yangon port and especially the Sule Terminal need to be upgraded and are inferior when compared to Thilawa.