Due to the overload of imported scrap containers at Cat Lai Port in HCMC’s District 2, its operator Saigon Newport Corporation (SNC) has decided to reduce warehousing costs by a staggering 80% if local importers take back their containers by the end of this month.

Trucks transport cargo inside Cat Lai Port in HCMC

The corporation announced in a statement that as of March 20, the number of scrap containers had reached more than 3,800 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) at Cat Lai Port and over 6,000 TEUs at other ports under the management of SNC.

This has led to heavy congestion at these ports, leaving a severe impact on their operations.

The 80% reduction in warehousing costs is applicable to scrap containers that were shipped to Cat Lai Port by late 2018.  The move is meant to support the corporation’s clients in taking their goods out of the port.

Earlier, the Vietnam Maritime Administration had urged the operators of ports and ships to present plans on warehousing exemptions.

However, the importers will not be allowed to take back their goods if they do not provide authorities with environmental protection certificates and import quota paperwork or if they have yet to place deposits to ensure that their scrap imports are aligned with prevailing regulations.

If their scrap imports have been unloaded at ports but customs and environmental authorities later found them to expose high risks to the environment, ship owners and crew members will be held accountable for transporting the waste out of Vietnam’s territory.

China has decided to bar solid waste imports by 2020. Therefore, according to experts, the ban is likely to prompt more waste to be shipped to Vietnam in the years to come.

SGT