Under a plan prepared last year, Vinalines would spend VND700 billion (US$41 million) upgrading Cam Ranh Port to meet the increasing demand for goods transportation between central coast provinces and the Central Highlands.

In the first phase of 2009-2010, the developer will build a wharf for both general cargoes and containers. The new wharf, 230 meters long and 30 meters wide, can receive ships of up to 50,000 DWT. Besides, the company is also investing in new equipment for the port such as cranes and new warehouses.

The plan is aimed to raise the port’s capacity to three million tons next year compared to the current throughput of 1.2 million tons of goods, which is still much higher than the port’s designed capacity of only 700,000 tons.

In the second phase from 2010 to 2020, the company will build more wharves at the port, comprising container wharves and multi-purpose wharf to better serve the needs of larger vessels, said a top official of Vinalines. The port should be able to handle five million tons of goods per year by 2020. Besides, another plan has been drawn up to build a railway section connecting the national railway system to the port to facilitate the transportation of containers and cargoes via railway.

Ba Ngoi port was built in 1949, and has become deteriorated despite its convenient location and natural conditions for a deepwater port. In October 2007, Khanh Hoa Province decided to transfer the port to Vinalines.