Anti-regime groups have claimed that their restrictions on road travel in Mon State and Tanintharyi Region in recent months have forced the military to transport more of its supplies and personnel by sea in Myanmar’s south.
In the past three months, according to the anti-regime groups, the military has carried more of its supplies by ship to Yangon and the Mon State towns of Thanbyuzayat and Mawlamyine, all located near estuaries on the Andaman Sea. The ships have used ports in the vicinity of Ah Sin and Zee Hpyu Thaung villages in Ye Township, Mon State, near the mouth of the Ye River.
Intelligence reaching other resistance groups has also suggested the military has been transporting supplies and personnel by sea.
A member of the Yamanya Urban Guerrilla, a resistance organisation active in Mon State, claimed that a junta ship had docked at Wa Kyun island, a few miles off the coast from Zee Hpyu Thaung in the Andaman Sea, in late August. Another ship seen nearby was reportedly carrying regime troops, other personnel, and prisoners of war.
The increased reliance on maritime routes comes after Brigade 6 of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) announced in June that they would take action to prevent the military from moving reinforcements, supplies, and weapons by road between Thanbyuzayat, Mawlamyine, and other major towns in Mon State and Tanintharyi Region.
Since then, members of the KNLA—the armed wing of the ethnic political organisation Karen National Union (KNU)—have manned checkpoints and carried out searches on vehicles traveling parts of Route 8, a segment of the Asia Highway running from Payagyi, Mon State to Myeik, Tanintharyi Region.
“They are relying more on the maritime routes as it’s not safe for them to use the highway anymore,” a KNU officer said.
“We saw some junta personnel traveling the highway when we were conducting security checks, but they’ve almost completely stopped using the highway to transport supplies and weapons in bulk,” he added.
The National Unity Government (NUG)—the publicly mandated shadow cabinet formed and endorsed by ousted pro-democracy officials in 2021 to oppose the military coup—joined the KNU’s efforts to maintain control of the road.
One member of a logistics team operating as part of the NUG’s defence ministry said that three cars carrying weapons and soldiers from the port between Ah Sin and Zee Hpyu Thaung villages had been stopped at their checkpoints on Route 8.
Apart from Route 8, the junta has few other options for transporting weapons, supplies, and personnel by land. Railway service between Yangon and Mawlamyine has resumed, but the segment of the railway between Mawlamyine and Ye is still closed.
At least 10 local resistance and guerrilla groups are active in Ye Township and the neighbouring townships of Mon State and Tanintharyi Region. Brigade 6 of the KNLA, which has been operating the checkpoints along Route 8, controls territory in parts of Mon State as well as adjacent areas of southern Karen State.
