At the Tan Cang - Cai Mep Port in the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam is planning to pour investment into upgrading its seaport system and developing world-class ports, The Maritime Executive of the US reported.
According to the website Vietnam is planning significant investments designed to create world class ports in the next phase of its master plan for its port system.
It highlighted the country’s success in developing ports over the past two decade, while cited the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport as saying that the country plans to invest between 6 billion and 8 billion USD in the next phase of port development to 2030.
Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat said after 20 years of planning, Vietnam's seaport system has made great progress in both quality and quantity, basically meeting the development target under the approved plan.
ꦍ However, he noted that to meet the demand for import and export goods, and the goals for economic development, the ministry acknowledged the need to have significant investment to further expand the capabilities of Vietnam’s ports.
The Hai Phong Port welcomes the first cargo batch in 2021 (Photo: VNA)
Nhat highlighted that Vietnam’s ports have grown from nearly 82 million tonnes of cargo in 2000 to more than 680 million tonnes in 2020. Despite the effects of the COVID pandemic, they reported that the volume was up 4 percent in 2020.
As of the beginning of 2020, Vietnam had increased its berth space by more than eight times in the past 20 years to a total of 588 berths in 34 ports. Gateway ports for international transshipment have been established in the north and the south of the country.
According to The Maritime Executive, Vietnam is capable of receiving containerships up to 132,000 tonnes at the Lach Huyen Port area in the northern city of Hai Phong and up to 214,000 tonnes at the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port area in the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau.
Large-scale specialised berths associated with industrial parks, metallurgical, refining and petrochemical complexes, coal-fired thermal power centres, which can receive ships with capacity up to 200,000 tonnes, and those carrying liquid cargo and crude oil with capacity up to 150,000 tonnes and 320,000 tonnes, respectively, have basically met the targets by 2020.
According to Deputy Minister Nhat, Vietnam lacks large international standard ports while several small ones have inadequate infrastructure, resulting in inefficient port operations. This is one of the reasons why the seaport system of Vietnam has not kept up with the requirements of the regional maritime market, Nhat noted.
With the master planning for seaport development in the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, the Ministry of Transport has set a goal of ensuring import-export activities and transport of cargo between regions and localities nationwide, and the transshipment and transit of goods through seaports in the region, thus meeting requirements on the country’s socio-economic development.
The focus is on upgrading Hai Phong and Cai Mep-Thi Vai ports, towards providing international standard services.
Vietnam has also planned to invest in the central economic zone as part of the effort for the development of major ports and clusters that can accommodate large container ships, the site said.
ꦜ The goal for the next phase of the port development is to increase Vietnam’s annual cargo capacity to 1.14-1.42 billion tonnes and about 10.1 to 10.3 million passengers per year by 2030.
