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The Koh Lanta car ferry saga
The saga's first part
Several years ago, Songserm company, a major Thai tourist operator, got
awarded a government contract to open a car ferry service between the mainland
and Koh Lanta Noi, as well as between Koh Lanta Noi and Koh Lanta Yai, opening
the way for a vast tourist development on the hitherto little known island of
Koh Lanta. Songserm Company started investing heavily in several car ferries,
developing the four piers on the two islands and the mainland, and building up a
huge stock of spares parts and fuel. They have been offering a reliable service
pretty much from day one, initially from the mainland to Koh Lanta Noi, and
allowed local operators to do the Lanta Noi-Lanta Yai leg.
In these first few years of the Lanta ferry, there were still a couple of
long-tail boats carrying two cars at a time and leaving directly from Saladan
town next to the Swiss Bakery. At the same time, a local muslim operator,
associated with the Phi Phi - Lanta ferry, the "Phetpailin", opened a
car ferry service from the to-be Songserm pier outside of Saladan. The
traditional long-tail boat operators were a thorn in the eye of the muslim
newcomers and they were gradually forced to move out by the Phetpailin crowd.
The saga's second part
Now, Songserm, a company that has established itself for many decades, initially on the island of Koh Samui and later spreading out to nearly every major tourist destination in Thailand, is claiming its rights to the Lanta Yai - Lanta Noi ferry service. The ragheads answered with calls to protect the local operators from the "foreign infidels" and even organized several unsuccessful rallyes at the Songserm pier, each attended by a score of sinister looking Mullahs. When nobody interfered to aid them in their quest for ownership of the island of Koh Lanta, they even shut down their ferry service in protest for three days in the beginning of November, virtually strangling the only working supply route to Koh Lanta. But Songserm was not far to the rescue, hastening the new ferry service, and even offering the ragheads an odd day/even day share of the ferry service. But the Koh Lanta Taleban decided that if they can't have it all to themselves, they weren't going to go for halves and shut down their service for good. Now peace has returned to the island and another nail has been added to Osama's grave, amen !
To be continued !
The original Koh Lanta car ferry service, before it was shut down by the Koh Lanta Taleban.
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