My take on the Kra Canel is this, if the Ah tiongs want to build it, it has to be a' free flow' or 'expressway' like canel river where by ships can go in straight and no queuing etc.
If you look at the Panama and Suez canel, ships have to wait on 1 end to transit the interlocks, and I heard the waiting time is a week to a month or more (experts pls confirm this). However to go around will take months,, so even factor in the waiting time, its still more efficient to use these canels. For this Kra Canel, at most you save a week travelling time by going around the straits of Malacca,,,all that effort to save a week by ship? abit ridiculous,
Also dont forget Singkielands trump card,,,that our oil refinery, ships still come here and still have to come here to get refined oil products,,,,so there is minimal reason to use the Kra Canel,,,at the moment,,
In future maybe ah tiong land might have a better oil refinery,,,but by than demand for oil will increase more mitigating any increase capacity,,,just my rants..