A container ship anchored at Cai Mep - Thi Vai Port in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province. Vietnam needs to develop a new plan for seaports to contribute to the country's socio-economic development. (Photo: VNA)With a coastline stretching over 3,000 km, Vietnam has a maritime and inlandwaterway transport system that plays an important role in the country.Every year, the seaport system handles up to 90 percent of import andexport cargo, contributing significantly to economic growth.
The seaport system saw the volume of containers transported increase by morethan 15 times in the 2001-19 period and was entering a new phase with newrequirements for development.
According to Nguyen Duc Kien, head of the Prime Minister’s Economic AdvisoryCouncil, around 80 percent of the volume of goods traded between countries washandled by sea transport. Similarly, the percentage in Vietnam was 90 percent,meaning that most of the country’s annual import and export goods were throughthe seaport system.
“Just look at the operation of the seaport system, one can see thatcountry’s economic development,” Kien said.
He pointed out a number of advantages of maritime transport, including that itcould handle large quantities and long distance at low costs. “Theeconomic development will affect the development of maritime transport and viceversa, when sea transport develops well, it will promote economic growth.”
Chu Quang Thu, former Director of the Vietnam Maritime Administration, said theseaport system saw significant development over the past two decades.
As of the end of April, there were 286 ports across the country with a totalwharf length of 96 km, more than 4.5 times longer than in 2000. The seaportsystem handled a total cargo volume of more than 692 million tonnes in 2020,8.4 times higher than 2000.
The seaport system was developed in association with the the country’ economichubs and regions, such as Quang Ninh and Hai Phong ports for the northern keyeconomic region, Thua Thien – Hue, Da Nang, Dung Quat and Quy Nhon for thecentral key economic region, HCM City, Ba Ria – Vung Tau and Dong Nai for theSoutheast region and Can Tho and An Giang for Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region.
Vietnam has set up 32 maritime transportation routes, 25 of whichare international.
With open investment policies, Vietnam has attracted many global portoperators and shipping lines to invest in the seaport system, such as the UAE’sDP World, the US’ SSA Marine, PS from Singapore, APMT from Denmark, andHutchison Port Holding from Hong Kong.
However, there was a lack of consistency between seaport planning andsocio-economic development planning of localities and other industries, NguyenXuan Sang, Director of the Vietnam Maritime Administration, said.
The transport infrastructure system was becoming overloaded and outdated, whichtogether with rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, coastal urban areasand tourism areas development resulted in congestion at some ports.
“It is necessary to develop new master planning for the seaport system of Vietnamto ensure synchronous development and meet the country’s requirements forindustrialisation and modernisation,” Sang said.
Le Tan Dat, deputy director of the Construction Consultation Joint StockCompany for Maritime Building, said that the seaport master plan for thenext period should take advantage of the favourable geographical locations andnatural conditions combined with science and technology advancements to ensurecomprehensive development and contribute to improving competitiveness of thesystem.
The new planning should focus on investment in key seaports to becomepillars for the maritime economy and promote the development of the logisticsindustry.
The seaport planning in the next period should give priority to thedevelopment of international gateways and transshipment ports in Hai Phong cityin the North and Ba Ria – Vung Tau province in the South and for the centraleconomic region. Seaport clusters would also be developed to servesocio-economic development, including Hai Phong – Quang Ninh, Nghi Son (Thanh Hoa)–Dong Hoi (Nghe An), Da Nang – Quang Nam – Dung Quat (Quang Ngai), Quy Nhon (BinhDinh) – Van Phong (Khanh Hoa) and HCM City – Cai Mep Thi Vai.
Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The asked the Vietnam Maritime Administrationto evaluate the current situation of the seaport system to raise developmentorientations in line with forecasts.
The said that special attention would be attached to developing the seaportsystem for the Mekong Delta region which had abundant sources of agriculturalproducts for export but the seaport system remained poorly developed.
He said the Mekong Delta region needed a deep-water seaport which together withCan Tho Airport would promote the economic development of the region./.
VNA
