2007 was a year full of difficulties and challenges for the Vietnamese maritime industry. Unfavourable conditions from weather, material costs, equipment costs, rentals, and multifaceted competition (technology, equipment, human resources) between local maritime companies and international rivals offered both momentum and challenges for the development of maritime companies and the maritime industry in general. However, 2007 was a successful year for the Vietnamese maritime industry.
The clearest evidence was that the volume of commodities handled in 2007 by the Vietnamese seaport system soared to the highest level in the past 10 years, especially in key economic zones. For example, cargo throughput via Haiphong ports grew 47.3 per cent and via Ho Chi Minh City ports by 17.4 per cent. Total cargo throughput at seaports reached 181.116 million tonnes, up 17.2 per cent; container goods accounted for 4,489,165 TEUs, a rise of 31.2 per cent; dry cargo 79.444 million tonnes, a rise of 17.2 per cent and transhipped goods 17.113 million tonnes, up 16.1 per cent. The number of ship calls also increased sharply with a total load of 320.176 million GT, representing a year on year increase of 18 per cent. The Vietnamese ship fleet transported 61.350 million tonnes, a jump of nearly 20 per cent. With the expansion of the ship fleet, the shipbuilding industry recorded a growth of 73 per cent in volume. The industry launched ships with a total load of nearly 750,000 tonnes. These figures persuasively supported the development strategy of the Vietnamese maritime industry.
To cope with development demand, the maritime industry has focused on the expansion of the ship fleet in order to increase load capacity. With the high increase in shipping fares, a series of shipping firms expanded their fleets by buying new and used vessels. To date, the Vietnamese national ship fleet has 1,199 ships with a capacity 2,937,327 GT and 4,384,880 DWT, in which 46 ships are foreign-flagged.
Apart from investing in ship fleet expansion, the Vietnamese maritime industry also focused on the investment of key seaport infrastructure. A series of investment programmes included the reallocation of Saigon ports to Cai Mep - Thi Vai area and Ben Dinh - Sao Mai container port in Vung Tau city.
Maritime companies, especially state-owned ones, are experiencing effective business transformation. The Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) alone has four affiliates going public in 2007: namely Vietnam Ocean Shipping Company, Vietnam Transport and Chartering Company, North Sea Transportation Company (Nosco) and Inlaco Saigon Company. Besides, several seaports such as Haiphong, Saigon, Danang and Quang Ninh also transformed into one-member limited liability companies. After the business transformation, these companies made impressive business results. For example, Nosco recorded revenue of VND358.457 billion in 2007, representing an increase of 92.8 per cent, and made a pre-tax profit of VND50 billion, rising 8.06 times.
Besides the encouraging results, the Vietnamese maritime industry encountered the following difficulties that require resolution:
- In expanding ship fleets, maritime firms tend to buy ships of large capacity, but they usually buy aging ships because of price. This ensures near term profits but cannot guarantee long term development goals.
- While deepwater seaport construction projects are underway, they cannot generate best investment returns. The slow pace of dredging port passageways affects the operation of seaports, to a certain extent.
- The maritime sector is focusing on expanding ship fleets but it does not pay due attention to developing skilled officers, crewmen and management officials.
- The sector is developing shipyards to build ships, but it does not invest enough to build dockyards for repairing and upgrading ships. The maintenance and repair of ships is usually done by foreign countries. This affects the business results of shipping firms.
According to the government plan, to realise the goal of increasing GDP by 8.5 per cent, the maritime sector must reach growth of at least 10 per cent per annum. The maritime industry has set basic goals in 2008 as follows: cargo throughput up 13 per cent and ocean shipping output up 20 per cent. Besides, the sector will start work on several key projects such as two container wharves at Van Phong international container transhipment terminal, two container wharves at Lach Huyen International Port and three piers at Cai Lan Port
DTCK
Vietnamese
