Vietnam Industrial Parks InfoGate ! Industrial Zones ! Export Processing Zones ! New Nha Trang area port plans revised to serve biggest ships

Dr. Chu Quang Thu’s call for rethinking the scale and operation of Van Phong port has been supported by many scientists and businessmen, notably including Vinalines, the new port’s principal investor.

Dr. Nguyen Thiet Hung, Chairman of the Khanh Hoa province Maritime Economic and Scientific Association wrote that it would be a big waste to build another harbour just for 6000 TEU ships.

“I totally agree with the viewpoint of Dr Chu Quang Thu on building an international container transhipment port able to handle ships of up to 15000 TEU. [A TEU is a volume the size of a standard twenty foot shipping container – ed.] Already, Cai Mep port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau can receive 6000 TEU ships. It would be a big waste if we just build another port capable of handling ships up to 6000 TEU at Van Phong.

In fact, it’s unlikely that container ships of 6000 TEU or less will consolidate cargos at Van Phong. Cai Mep port is located nearer to the import-export hubs than Van Phong port. Ships of 6000 TEU and less to Vietnam will choose Cai Mep to dock instead of Van Phong, simply because exporters do not want to pay additional transport costs to carry goods to Van Phong. The same thing will also happen with imports. Owners of goods will prefer to unload goods at Cai Mep to serve HCM City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong and western provinces.

The Government and the Ministry of Transport need to tighten the control over the investment in ports. It would be a big waste if every locality rushes to build deep water ports in their localities. While our import-export volume remains very low, the port use remains below capacity. Some ports have been left idle and deteriorating after the construction finished”.

Duong Chi Dung, Chairman of Vinalines, the principal investor of Van Phong port, writes to say the port’s design is being adjusted.

"The start of the construction of Van Phong’s first two harbours has been delayed because under the previous plan approved by the Government, the harbours were designed to receive 6000 TEU ships. However, when we were assigned to become the investor of the port, we found out that harbours for 6000 TEU will be competitive because the port will not be able to receive the biggest ships.

To succeed as an international transshipment port, Van Phong port will need to receive container ships of 6000 TEU and up, including the biggest ships in the world.

Therefore, we have asked permission to adjust the technical design for the two wharfs to make the new port capable of receiving 9000 TEU ships. We have submitted a new design to the Government for approval.

After the construction of the two wharfs, we will build others capable of handling 12,000-15,000 TEU ships, and also anticipate receiving container ships of up to 18,000 TEU (which are only now in the planning stage). We need to have a long term vision for our international transit port.

The construction pace of the Van Phong port has been slow because of the design adjustment, not because of the lack of investment capital. The total investment capital for the first two wharfs is over $200 million. We have reported to the Prime Minister that we will begin construction of the two first harbours in October 2009. In July, we will also start the second phase of the construction of Cai Cui port in Can Tho. In December 2009, we will start the construction of the two wharfs of Lach Huyen port in Hai Phong City.

Some have asked why we don’t think of bigger scale for the first two wharfs at Van Phong. The answer is that the conditions in the areas that have been chosen (the water depth is only 18 metres) do not allow us to build larger wharfs. However, as other areas [of the bay] have bigger water depth, it will be possible to build bigger wharfs for bigger ships.