Ranong
Least populous province, most strategic potential—Ranong Port bypasses Malacca (3 days to Yangon), 140% throughput growth, 150°C hot springs, Myanmar border volatility.
Ranong has the fewest inhabitants of any Thai province—and may soon have the most strategic port. When tin mining collapsed in the late 1980s after the 1985 global price crash, this Andaman coast province pivoted to fisheries, rubber, and tourism centered on hot springs where geothermal waters emerge at over 150°C. The economy remained underdeveloped: 2021 recorded Thailand's eighth-lowest GPP per capita.
Now Ranong Port is transforming. Positioned as Thailand's gateway to BIMSTEC, it offers shipping routes that bypass the congested Strait of Malacca entirely: 3 days to Yangon, 4 to Chittagong, 6 to Chennai or Colombo—compared to 14-21 days via traditional routes. Throughput grew 140% in fiscal 2025, reaching 6,400 TEUs. The Thai government eyes Ranong as part of a "hot springs economy" spa town network along the Andaman coast.
But proximity to Myanmar cuts both ways. The August 2025 border closures halted over 80% of 208 billion baht annual bilateral trade. Unregulated lead mining in Myanmar's Tanintharyi Region, which expanded after the 2021 coup, threatens transboundary contamination into shared Andaman waters. Hotel occupancy rose from 43% to 55% as domestic tourists discovered islands like Ko Phayam. Ranong bets on multiple ports of entry—tourism, geothermal wellness, maritime trade—while managing the volatility that borders with unstable neighbors inevitably create.