During the past few days, more new ships have arrived at Saigon Port, most with a tonnage of 3,000 – 5,000 tons, which had been rejected by other ports.

The port has loaded and unloaded cargo from those ships at pairs of buoys which can receive over 30 ships at a time to aid the situation.

Fifty ships arrived to Saigon Port to load and unload cargo in April, while the port is capable of receiving o­nly 25 ships at a time.

Many bulk cargo ships have been docked and overloaded the capacity of the port, as other ports do not want to accept bulk cargo because it is harder to handle and commands a lower fee than containerized cargo, Mr. Minh said.

Mr. Minh suggested shippers should think of carrying cargo in containers in order to get the commodities cleared more quickly. Cargo throughput at the port has also increased strongly in the year to date, Mr. Minh added.

Around 6.4 million tons of goods were handled at Saigon Port during the first four months of this year, a 43 percent year-on-year increase. Among them, bulk goods accounted for 80 percent of tonnage.

Handling bulk cargo requires specialized equipment and a large labor force that other ports cannot manage, as such it is the main cause of recent congestion at Saigon Port.