Ba Ria – Vung Tau spent VND45 trillion to build Cai Mep – Thi Vai which had designed capacity of 7 million TEU, increasing to 11 million TEU after the expansion. 

This is the only deep water seaport complex in Vietnam which is capable of receiving large cargo ships (100,000 tons and more). It is also one of 19 seaports which can receive ultra large crude carriers.

Vu Ngoc Thao from Ba Ria – Vung Tau Transport Department admitted at the Southeast Economic Forum that the exploitation efficiency of Cai Mep – Thi Vai is low despite the huge investment.

According to Thao, the problem lies in the unreasonable allocation of resources.

This is the only deep water seaport complex in Vietnam which is capable of receiving large cargo ships (100,000 tons and more). It is also one of 19 seaports which can receive ultra large crude carriers.

“Cai Mep – Thi Vai handed in VND79 trillion to the state budget in 2009-2017. Meanwhile, only VND3.6 trillion has been allocated to the port system,” he said.

He also thinks that the problem is in the unreasonable coordination of cargo flow, which leads to some ports being overloaded while others are left idle.

“This relates to the story about the inter-provincial cooperation which has been mentioned in the last 10 years. No considerable progress has been made while every man is for himself,” he said. 

Thao said the Ba Ria – Vung Tau provincial authorities have approved a resolution on port development, emphasizing that the inter-regional cooperation is the main measure to settle the existing problems.

Chair of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province Nguyen Van Trinh said on Thanh Nien that despite a series of measures to improve exploitation and management, only three out of every 100 shipments go through Thi Vai – Cai Mep, while the remaining 97 go through Cat Lai Port.

Nguyen Duy Minh, secretary general of the Vietnam Logistics Association and president of Intelog, also said Thi Vai – Cai Mep acts as Vietnam’s trade gateway No 1 and it needs cooperation from neighboring HCMC and Dong Nai.

He said the harmonized apportion of imports/exports between Cai Mep – Thi Vai and Cat Lai Port through ICD system in HCMC will help businesses cut logistics costs and deliver goods quickly.

Goods owners prefer Cat Lai to Thi Vai-Cai Mep because there is an ecosystem (loading/unloading service, customs procedures and transportation) at Cat Lai which allows them to optimize costs.

At a recent meeting with Ba Ria – Vung Tau’s leaders, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc also said the problems of Thi Vai – Cai Mep lie in transport infrastructure, logistics and state management.

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