Key points of discussion in the meeting were that the focus of port development on the country’s coast and rivers should be on bigger ports; the country should not be fragmented by small ports. In direct relationship with port development, there must be a focus on creating and improving infrastructure.

Ports should also not discriminate against non-container shipments, the meeting heard.

"The economic downturn has dealt its blow on the industry, with last year’s year-on-year growth dropping to just 7 per cent compared to 20 per cent in 2007," said VPA chairman Le Cong Minh. "But it’s bounced back since the second quarter," Minh noted.

The development of sea port infrastructure, especially for key economic zones, was one of the top priorities of the transport sector, but the sea ports system was currently poorly planned and lacking a long-term vision, said Dr Tran Doan Tho, Deputy Minister of Transport.

Truong Van Thai, deputy general director of Hai Phong port, pointed to the fact that the concentration of up to 30 small ports in his city was inversely proportional to their capacity to handle big cargo.

In Hai Phong, 17 ports in the central area account for merely 10 per cent of cargo but 30 per cent of the total length of dock of the whole country, according to Pham Ngoc The, deputy general director of Da Nang port.

Creating bigger ports rather than smaller ones would concentrate resources and a larger port could afford cargo transit for other countries and reduce the country’s dependence on transiting loads to bigger vessels abroad.

Tho said that there would be overall and detailed planning of the country’s sea port and that the focus now was on big ports that could handle enormous cargo, noting that deep-sea ports in northern Hai Phong city, southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau and central Khanh Hoa provinces were envisioned as gateways for big international cargos, while the existing ports would become their satellites.

In particular, Khanh Hoa’s Van Phong port would be developed into an international transit hub in the region, he said.

VPA chairman Minh hailed the fact that for the first time two big container vessels owned by world leading shippers like APL and MOL cruised straight from America to Ba Ria-Vung Tau’s deep-sea ports last May as a landmark event to the local industry, noting that straight shipment between the country and the US was now a reality.

Minh noted that as a result there was a significant shift of cargo from HCM City’s ports to those in Vung Tau city.

Infrastructure

A strategy with a vision to 2030 is being developed that has better road infrastructure as a key component, because it is not the ports’ capacities, but container truck congestion that mainly reduces the unloading speed, according to Minh.

Ho Kim Lan, VPA’s secretary general petitioned to the ministry to quickly enlarge main roads leading to HCM City’s Cat Lai port, Hai Phong’s Dinh Vu port and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Freeway among others.