VietNamNet Bridge – Huge backlogs have remained to be cleared at Cat Lai Port since early this month although the HCMC Department of Customs said it has tried to improve the situation.

Container backlogs remain huge at Cat Lai Port though a number of measures have been taken to ease the situation

Bui Le Hung, head of the Management-Supervision Office under the customs department, told a meeting over the weekend that the surging flow of goods to the port had led to an accumulation of goods there.

The volume of goods imported or exported through the port is steadily increasing. Specifically, this year’s first half saw the number of containers going through Cat Lai port grow 12% year-on-year, aggravated by the fact that 60% of the goods planned for going though Cai Mep Port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau are now transferred to Cat Lai Port instead.

On the other hand, authorities tightening controls on the load of trucks since April has forced transport firms to use more vehicles to transport the same amount of goods, meaning it takes longer to clear cargo at Cai Lai Port.

In addition, shipping firms are increasing the size of their vessels and construction of an approach road to Phu My Bridge is underway, causing congestion at Cat Lai Port.

However, congestion does not relate to the current implementation of the Vietnam Automated Cargo Clearance and Port Consolidated System (VNACCS) as previously said by many local enterprises.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the Ministry of Transport to join forces with the HCMC government to solve the problem at Cat Lai Port and report to the Government before August 10, Hung said.

The HCMC Department of Customs previously sent a document to the General Department of Customs proposing measures to cope with the situation at Cat Lai Port. As per the proposal, between July 23 and December 31 this year, vessels planned to offload goods at Cat Lai Port as stated on their bills of lading can be transferred to other ports such as Ben Nghe, Lotus or Tan Thuan.

Hung also admitted that the implementation of VNACCS has encountered glitches as documents guiding it are complicated and confusing.

Nguyen Thi Hong, vice chairwoman of the HCMC government, agreed with Hung, saying that she also had trouble understanding those documents though she is knowledgeable in the area.

VNACCS /VCIS is now available at all sub-departments under the HCMC Department of Customs after one month of implementation, said Le Dinh Loi, deputy head of the city’s customs department.

* Saigon Newport Corporation has adopted a number of measures to reduce cargo backlogs at Tan Cang-Cat Lai Port, which is better known as Cat Lai Port.

In addition to shifting container ships to other ports in HCMC and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Saigon Newport has made full use of space for cargo containers, move empty containers out of the port and rearranged loading and unloading of goods.

Saigon Newport also limits the time for containers to be loaded at the port, encourages clients to pick up their goods early and restricts the volumes of empty containers of shipping lines at the port.

Saigon Newport has also spent some VND580 billion installing more container handling cranes and expanding the container yard at the port, and at the same time speed up construction of Tan Cang-Hiep Phuoc Terminal in order to put it into operation soon.

According to Saigon Newport, rescheduled loading and unloading of containers at other ports under the management of Saigon Newport will not affect goods export and import activities of enterprises. The total volume of goods moved to other ports is estimated at around 100 TEUs per week.

The current cargo clearance capacity of Cat Lai port is around 60 containers per hour per ship. The port’s annual cargo handling capacity is 4.6 million TEUs but the volume is estimated at 3.6-3.7 million TEUs this year.

Saigon Newport has urged faster implementation of approach roads to the port to ease overloads and facilitate transport of goods to and from Cat Lai port in the long run. The corporation has also suggested customs agencies to consider extending their working hours every day as well as working on weekends to have more goods cleared.

SGT/VNN