A coastal area in HCM City’s Can Gio district. (Photo: VNA)Mai stressed that the Can Gio international transshipment portproject is not only meaningful for the benefits of the seaport but alsoenhances the competitive advantage of the Southeast region, creating moreattractiveness for foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows.
Located in Thi Vai maritime channel, Can Gio has deep water, isnot seriously affected by waves or winds, and is ideal for internationalcontainer transshipment.
Along with natural and economic factors, the cooperation of largeglobal shipping lines is also essential for success.
The city plans to carry out the project’s construction togetherwith the Vietnam Maritime Corporation (VIMC) and Mediterranean Shipping Company(MSC) - the world's second-largest container shipping company.
VIMC and its subsidiary, Saigon Port, have joined with foreignpartners to flesh out the details of cooperation, investment and operation.
Saigon Port and MSC have studied the proposed site of around 570hectares with a main wharf of 7.2km and capacity to berth ships of up to250,000 tonnes.
The project has a designed capacity of 15 million TEUs. The twosides are working hard with foreign partners to finalise plans for investmentand operations.
By taking advantage of the deep water channel at the Can Gio estuary,construction of the port is expected to maximise the role of seaport group No.4 comprising five ports in HCM City and the southern provinces of Dong Nai, BaRia - Vung Tau, Binh Duong and Long An.
“This project is a complement to the Cai Mep–Thi Vai seaportsystem, not a competition to weaken the existing seaport system,” Mai said.
It will use investment capital from domestic and foreignenterprises with high feasibility because the investor is one of the world'sleading shipping carriers.
The city has been perfecting policies and institutions to create adriving force for the region’s development, bringing the region into a newstage of development and making a great contribution to the country’sindustrialisation and modernisation process by 2045.
According to statistics from VIMC, in 2021, the volume ofcontainer goods passing through the country's ports, mainly in HCM City, Ba Ria-VungTau province and Hai Phong city, was 23.9 million TEU, but internationaltranshipment was relatively low.
In 2015-2020, the volume of goods passing through HCM City's portsgrew by an average of 7.3% a year, and it is expected to fall to 5% in 2021-2025.
In 2021, the volume was 164.19 million tonnes against a target of116.9 million tonnes and even higher than the target for 2030 of 160 milliontonnes.
The construction of container ports is imperative to meet thecity’s trading needs./.
VNA
