Vietnamese Seaports - Handling All Cargo

According to Mr Vuong Dinh Lam, general director of Vietnam Maritime Administration (Vinamarine), the Vietnamese seaport system has satisfied the demand of imported and export cargo handling and goods circulation, which is said to contribute to the stable growth of GDP. In the past years, the Vietnamese seaport handled over 90 per cent of imported and exported commodities.

 

To meet the cargo throughput of nearly 200 million tonnes in 2010 and 340 million tonnes in 2020, the Prime Minister has approved the master development plan for the Vietnamese seaport system until 2010 and vision to 2020. In the 1990s, the previous master seaport development plan systemised and rearranged the Vietnamese seaports, with precedence given to key ports in most important economic zones. Thus, Vietnam has focused on building key seaports such as Haiphong, Cai Lan, Tien Sa-Da Nang and Cai Mep-thi Vai.

 

Haiphong Port: The Haiphong Port now consists of four areas, namely Vat Cach, Hoang Dieu, Doan Xa and Chua Ve. To tackle difficulties arising from the building of the port like narrow back-port and ship-turning areas, shallow passageways and wharfs, Haiphong Port advocated to build a tranship area in Got Wharf which can support ships of 30,000 DWT and to develop a port in Dinh Vu Island for ships of 20,000DWT. The plan has been approved by the Ministry of Transport and is underway.

 

Cai Lan Port: Although the development of the port had been studied for long, the port was only able to open the first wharf for ships of 10,000 DWT in 1995. The service of Wharf 1 was a milestone in the economic development of Quang Ninh Province in particular and northern Vietnam in general. The first phase of Cai Lan Port was completed in 2003 with three new wharves capable of accommodating ships of 40,000 DWT. The front area is a wide water area with the depth of 13 metres. This was the first itme Vietnam had a modern seaport capable of receiving three heavy cargo ships at a time. The port, warehouse and equipment system enabled the quick release of ships and reduction in operating costs.

 

Da Nang Port:Da Nang Port lies in the central key economic zone, which is in the middle of waterway, railway, roadway, airway and seaway connecting the northern and southern regions.

 

Da Nang Port is an important facility in Vietnam, including Tien Sa and Song Han ports. Tien Sa Port now has two piers built since 1965. The piers, with 186 m long, 27.3-29.3 m wide and 11 m deep, can support three ships of 30,000 DWT to anchor. Song Han Port, with 750 m long and 6-7 m deep, can handle cargo ships of 5,000 DWT. Currently, the Ministry of Transport is carrying out a project to upgrade Tien Sa-Da Nang Port by Japanese-funded ODA capital. The upgrading will focus on the construction of 250-m breakwater, wharves, container yards, roads linking to National Road 1A, Tuyen Son Bridge and Hoa Cam Road. Once completed, the port can handle over 3.5 million tonnes of cargo a year.

 

Dung Quat Port:  Dung Quat Port is located in central Quang Ngai Province and is 120 km off Da Nang City to the south. Dung Quat Port is designed to have an oil port to serve Dung Quat oil refinery, a general port for Dung Quat economic zone and Quang Ngai province, and a specialised port for shipbuilding and repairing. Currently, Wharf 1 has been put into operation and is serving ships of 10,000 DWT. In the future, the wharf can handle ships of 20,000 DWT and 50,000 DWT. Dung Quat Port is located in central Quang Ngai Province and is 120 km off Da Nang City to the south. Dung Quat Port is designed to have an oil port to serve Dung Quat oil refinery, a general port for Dung Quat economic zone and Quang Ngai province, and a specialised port for shipbuilding and repairing. Currently, Wharf 1 has been put into operation and is serving ships of 10,000 DWT. In the future, the wharf can handle ships of 20,000 DWT and 50,000 DWT.

Van Phong International Container Transhipment Terminal: Van Phong Port is 50 km off Nha Trang City, the capital of Khanh Hoa Province. Knowing the importance and advantageous position of Van Phong, the government has assigned the Ministry of Transport to instruct the Vietnam Maritime Administration to draw up a master plan to develop Van Phong International Container Transhipment Terminal. In fact, Van Phong has been used for transhipment of oil for Vietnam and other countries. Vietnamese oil tankers do not need to dock at third countries in Southeast Asia to receive big oil tankers from bigger tankers carrying Middle East oil.

 

Ho Chi Minh City ports:With favourable conditions, Ho Chi Minh City is a good place to develop ports. According to statistics, the Ho Chi Minh City port system consists of 28 ports of various sizes lying along Saigon, Dong Nai, Nha Be and Long Tau rivers. Seven ports are used for container goods and general commodities, and 21 specialised ports are used for petroleum, wood, cement and other commodities.

 

Among seven big ports, four are the biggest, including Saigon, Newport, Ben Nghe and VICT. The cargo throughput accounts for 85 per cent of the total cargos, including container goods, via southern ports.

 

Cai Mep-Thi Vai river ports:Several ports are operating in the region, such as VEDAN Port with one pier for dry cargo ships of 10,000 DWT and another one for liquid cargo ships of 12,000 DWT, UNIQUE GAS Port, SUPER PHOSPHATE Long Thanh Port, Go Dau A Port and Go Dau B Port. Besides, Phu My area also attracted many investors to build ports. Currently, the area has a port to serve Phu My power plant and Ba Ria Serece port. Cai Mep has an area covering nearly 4 km long and over 1 km wide. In several sections, the river depth reached 30m. Currently, investors are building LPG, VINAFOOD and Saigon Petroleum ports.