VietNamNet Bridge – Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province’s Department of Transport has said four more seaport projects, namely Vung Tau Petro, Cai Mep-Thi Vai International, SSIT and the first phase of Gemalink, will be operational this year.

The seaports will have a combined design capacity of about 20-25 million tons of cargo. The southern coastal province in 2013 is set to serve cargo throughput of around 50.7 million tons and roughly 125,000 passengers at local seaports. It will also spend a total of over VND4.2 trillion developing new seaports this year, up some 10% against last year.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau now is preparing to build 15 seaports at a total cost of about VND56 trillion, with ten in Thi Vai-Cai Mep, four in Long Son-Vung Tau and one on Con Dao Island. The province’s seaports have since 2012 become quiet after having been bustling for years.

There are 26 seaport projects in active operation in the locality with capacity totaling more than 76 million tons annually. However, these ports only handled 50.46 million tons of cargo in 2012, equivalent to some 94% of the 2011 figure.

Similarly, the number of passengers going to the country through the ports was put at more than 82,000 people last year, or 88% of the number recorded in 2011.

The cargo throughput fall is ascribable to the current global economic slump, with foreign shipping lines gradually scaling down direct services from Europe and America to the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port area.

As a result, the number of 16 sea routes has been reduced to nine and local ports are facing tough competition, especially in terms of prices, with an average of less than US$40 for a 20-feet container.

The slow relocation of seaports along the Saigon River and Ba Son shipbuilding factory is also attributable to Ba Ria-Vung Tau’s seaports operating below capacity. It is because many container ships still prefer seaports in HCMC, the transport department explained.

Source: SGT