Shwe Pyi Tan express boat line to suspend for two days due to inclement weather 

By DMG 24 May 2021

DMG Newsroom
24 May 2021, Sittwe 

With a depression in the east central Bay of Bengal intensifying into a deep depression, the Shwe Pyi Tan express boat line in Arakan State will suspend services for two days, an official of the boat line said. 

“We suspended all boat services from May 24. We decided to suspend through May 25, but if the movement of the deep depression continues, we will suspend our service on May 26 also,” Shwe Pyi Tan manager U San Maw Thein told DMG. 

According to an announcement of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH) released on May 24, the deep depression is centred about 290 nautical miles southeast of Paradip in India and about 335 nautical miles south-southeast of Digha in India. 

Routes plied by the boat line include Sittwe-Kyaukphyu-Ramree-Kyauknimaw, Sittwe-Taungup-Manaung, Sittwe-Pauktaw-Minbya, Sittwe-Mrauk-U and Sittwe-Ratherdaung-Buthidaung. 

The Malikha express boat line providing service for the route of Sittwe-Rathedaung-Buthidaung will not suspend the service due to the deep depression, the boat line’s manager U Aung Ko Lin told DMG. 

But continued service will depend on weather conditions, he added.  

“We have scheduled the boat trip to Buthidaung on May 25, but it will be cancelled if the weather conditions are worse than now,” he said. 

The Pauktaw Tagun express boat line, running between Sittwe and Pauktaw, continues to provide service, said U Thein Tun, the owner of the boat line. 

The DMH has forecast isolated heavy rainfall in Arakan and Chin states as well as other regions and states. 

Occasional squalls with rough seas will be experienced off and along Myanmar coasts, with surface wind speed squalls reaching 40 mph and wave height at about 9 to 13 feet off and along Myanmar coasts, it said.