Southeast Asia · Case study

Laem Chabang Port, Business Continuity and Joint Emergency Exercises

Laem Chabang, Chonburi Province, Thailand2022 to present

Laem Chabang Port in eastern Thailand is the country's principal container hub. It has 18 terminals and handles more than 70 percent of Thailand's container volume (Senarak, 2025). The Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) provides the infrastructure under the Ministry of Transport. About 90 percent of the terminals are run by international and Thai terminal operators (Senarak, 2025). This concentration makes continuity a national concern. The officer leading a long-running emergency exchange at the port put it this way: "As the largest deep-water port in Thailand, there is significant secondary and tertiary effects when operations are interrupted" (Washington National Guard, 2025).

Approach

Certify the management system. A 2022 news report described the award of ISO 22301:2019 certification for the port's business continuity management system, assessed by an international audit company (MGR Online, 2022).

Plan for named disruptions. The business continuity plan prepares for crises that could stop services. Named examples are floods, fires, protests, riots and prolonged epidemics. The plan aims to bring critical processes back to normal within a set time (MGR Online, 2022).

Assign clear governance. PAT set up a dedicated Business Continuity Committee to oversee business continuity management at the port. PAT's emergency response plan sets out procedures for various scenarios, with the aim of a swift return to normal operations (Senarak, 2025).

Exercise realistic scenarios with partners. Port staff have trained with the Washington National Guard since 2005. In August 2025, more than 170 port employees worked through an earthquake and tsunami scenario with liquefaction at Pier 1. The scenario tested operations under degraded power through an overnight response (Washington National Guard, 2025). A March 2026 exercise combined a lithium battery fire with a shipboard pandemic and extended to a local hospital (Washington National Guard, 2026).

Bring cyber into preparedness. The 2024 exchange included cyber classes and assessments for the first time (Washington National Guard, 2024). Regular cybersecurity training is in place for staff of PAT and the terminal operators (Senarak, 2025).

Results

MGR Online reported that the certificate was presented on 12 May 2022 at a ceremony chaired by the Deputy Minister of Transport (MGR Online, 2022). The joint exercises have grown into a multiagency effort. The August 2026 exercise brought together port management and planning staff, fire and hazardous materials responders, Samitivej Sriracha Hospital and Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

The National Guard Bureau named the engagement its 2025 Preparedness Engagement of the Year (Washington National Guard, 2026). Public sources do not report the certified scope in detail, recovery time objectives, or exercise results against targets.

Transferability

This case suits DMC ports where a public port authority owns the infrastructure and private operators run the terminals.

An internationally recognized standard gives a common structure that authority and operators can both work to. A standing committee keeps continuity on the management agenda between incidents. Naming the likely disruptions, including epidemics and civil unrest as well as natural hazards, keeps planning concrete.

Long-term partnerships with emergency agencies, hospitals or foreign partners can give smaller ports access to exercise design skills they lack in house. Ports adopting this model should publish recovery objectives and exercise lessons, which would make progress easier to track than it is in this case.

Sources

All information used for this case study was based on publicly available resources.