The Port of Yangon is situated at Lat. 16-degree 47 minutes north and Long. 96-degree 15 minutes east on the Yangon River and about 32 km inland from the Elephant point on the Gulf of Martaban. Yangon Port conveniently lies along the sea route of the Indian Ocean and compared to other neighboring countries.
Since the 15 century, Yangon port has been a gateway port of Myanmar but it is a riverine port. And therefore, all vessels incoming and outgoing must schedule to sail under Myanmar Port Authority approval due to tidal restriction and unavoidable sand bars, as an outer bar known as elephant point near the mouth of the river, another inner bar known as monkey point approach to Yangon city harbor.
For all vessels calling to the Yangon port, pilotage is compulsory if they are over 200 GRT. Navigation from the Pilot Station, which is further 32 km seaward from Elephant Point, to the Yangon harbor is generally on flood tides and has to be timed to cross both Inner Bar and Outer Bar near high tide to ensure sufficient depths.
Myanmar Port Authority (MPA), has been implementing Port Security measures in its ports since July 1, 2004, to comply with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code) adopted by IMO in 2002.
Ports of Myanmar are multi-purpose container/ GC terminals, but there is no purely Passenger Cruise Terminal yet.
There is a two-port location in Yangon as follows :
(1) Inner Port /Harbor or City Harbor
The Inner Harbor is at TMT Port (Former Bo Aung Kyaw Waft) can allow up to 167 meters (LOA) maximum, Nanthida Jetty, and Port Health Jetty allowing up to 150 meters. Both locations are practically in the downtown area.
Nanthida Jetty
As the very first Cruise dock in the city harbor, Nanthida Jetty is located in front of the Strand Hotel, just a few minutes walking to the city center. Most of the small cruise lines (less than 150 m LOA, draft 8 m) like MV Sea Dream, MV Calypso docked at pontoon type Nanthida jetty with bailey bridge. Since this jetty is designated for the ferry terminal, small cruises, motor yachts are suitable to dock at the port but there is tidal variation twice a day. It is under the management of the Myanmar Port Authority (MPA) and this jetty location is pretty good for local experience lookers due to its harbor front scenery, rustle bustle pedestrians and street vendors along with the colonial buildings under the Yangon skyline
Port Health Jetty
As a last renovated cruise dock in city harbor, next to Nanthida Jetty located in front of the Custom House, just 5 minutes walking to The Strand Hotel and city center. This jetty used to dock coastal liners in past days, it was designated into a new terminal building for the small cruises (less than 200 m LOA draft 8 m) like MV Silver Discovery name in a few. Under the management of the Myanmar Port Authority (MPA), this jetty location is quite private for passengers because it’s harbor private compound, there are enchanting experiences of river ferry long-tail boats scenery, rustle bustle people ways of life in busy Yangon.
TMT Port
Located strategically in the very heart of downtown Yangon which is the largest city and international trade portal in Myanmar, TMT Port, is the multi-purpose port handling a wide variety of cargo, connecting extensively to the regional and global ports. TMT Ports is equipped to meet international port standards and under the professional support and management by Portia Management from the United Kingdom. Passenger cruises ship (over 150m between 167 m LOA) use alongside TMT port as a fixed port in a safe and secure port compound. Connecting a dedicated container tollway, TMT Port allows easy transportation of goods and cargo to various strategic trading hubs in Yangon city and beyond.
(2) Outer Harbor
All ports of Outer Harbor are a multi-purpose container terminal located at Thilawa and Special Economic Zone(Thilawa SEZ) near the mouth of the Yangon River.
WILMAR
Wilmar Myanmar Port Terminals Thilawa Limited is situated at plot no. 20 and 21 of Thilawa Port Development Zone on the right side of the Yangon river estuary and is about 10 nautical miles further upstream from pilot vessels where all foreign flagged vessels unless otherwise exempted must take the pilot to enter the Yangon River. The geographical position of the terminal is at Latitude 16 38.5 North and Longitude 096 16.0 East. Total area of the port terminal area will be about 750 meters in length and 400 meters in width (about 60 hectares).The terminal is a multipurpose port terminal and is designed to handle general cargoes, bulk cargoes and Edible Oil cargoes. Wilmar Myanmar Port Terminals limited modern facilities include modern wharf with 234 meters in length and 25 meters in width. The wharf will be extended up to a total 390 meter in length in later stage as phase 2. The port is not only providing port services to third party customers but also it provides full support for logistics and cargo handling requirements for Wilmar’s facilities within the port area.
TMIT
Thiliwa Multipurpose International Terminal (TMIT) is operated by KAMIGUMI in Myanmar under the Concession Agreement between KAMIGUMI and Myanmar Port Authority in May 2019 is situated at plot no. 25-26 of Thilawa Port Development Zone and 16km from Yangon to down-town. MIT port area is 165,700m3 and Berth length 400m and Draft 9m.
MITT
HUTCHISON PORT Myanmar International Terminals Thilawa (MITT) is a multi-purpose container terminal located at Thilawa near the mouth of the Yangon River. MITT is located just 25 kilometers from Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar and the country’s international trade portal, through which 90 percent of the nation’s maritime trade passed. MITT has five berths capable of handling a wide variety of cargo, Large Vessels with deeper draft could dock at MITT compared to a city terminal. There is also a rail line right into the terminal linking. MITT not only with Yangon city but also with the national rail network.
MIPL
The Myanmar Integrated Port Limited (MIPL) is established on an area of 37 acres (150,000m2) allocated for port services. The facilities of the MIPL terminal are designed to handle both bulk liquid cargo (edible oil) and general cargo located at Plot (4). MIPL wharf is 200m long with a 10m draft allowing vessels up to 20,000 metric tons to be berthed conveniently alongside.
IBTT
The International Bulk Terminal (Thilawa) (IBTT) is a joint venture between Lluvia Limited (joint venture with Mitsubishi Corporation and Capital Diamond Star Group-CDSG), provides services for cargo handling such as stevedoring, loading, discharging, storage, bagging and fumigation for the handling cargoes. It has a jetty 230 meters in length, 25 meters in width with a 11-metre draft, which has a designed capacity to accommodate vessels up to 200 meters LOA and 60,000 DWT (Deadweight Tonnage). IBTT is planning to handle more varieties of bulk cargoes with efficient and higher quality services, to contribute towards Myanmar’s economic growth.