VietNamNet Bridge – As road transport grows more costly, businesses are wringing their hands because of the lack of alternatives. The movement of goods by railways and waterways, they say, still offer no viable competition to land transport.

MOT’s solutions not applauded

Road transport cost have risen two or three fold since the Ministry of Transport (MOT) began tightening its inspections of cargo trucks on the nation’s highways.

Businesses have voiced their concerns that higher transport costs will lead to higher production costs, thus weakening the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods in both the domestic and international markets.

Last Friday, Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang convened a meeting with representatives from transportation firms to discuss the problem. Thang said that it is necessary to upgrade the railway and waterway transport to help ease overloading on the roads.

He believes that the ongoing campaign by the MOT to enforce trucks’ weight limits should be seen as a golden opportunity for railway, waterway, maritime and air transport services to expand their markets.

A survey conducted by MOT found that many rail routes still have abundant capacity. The Hanoi-Hai Phong and Hanoi-HCM City routes, for example, still have the capacity to serve 3-5 more trains per day, while the Hanoi-Dong Dang, Hanoi-Thai Nguyen and Kep-Long can accommodate 10 more per day.

In an optimum solution, the volume of cargo carried by rail can be 50-80 percent higher.

However, many businesses remain indifferent to rail transport because of its slow speed and high costs. Waterways, despite low costs and high capacity, have also not been favored by businesses. As many domestic water routes have not been dredged regularly, large ships cannot dock at ports. And in many cases, bridges with low clearance have made water routes impassable to larger vessels.

And the sky-high cost of air transport puts it out of reach of all businesses but those needing to transfer luxury items, or fresh goods with a short shelf life.

Businesses keep complaining

Thang has affirmed that MOT will continue to tighten its inspections of trucks for at least the next two years, maintaining that this is a necessary move to ensure the healthy development of the transport market and fair business.

Transport firms, on the one hand, agree that they must abide by the law. On the other hand, they complain that the MOT is applying unreasonable regulations in its inspections.

The HCM City Cargo Transport Association on April 16 sent a document to the government and MOT, requesting an amendment to the regulations, to help businesses avoid unreasonable punishments.

Semi-trailer manufacturers’ instructions say that the 2-axle trucks are capable of carrying up to 36 tons. However, the registration agency decided on a maximum load of 30.4 tons. As a result, transport firms have had fines imposed on loads well within the safety limits specified by the manufacturers.

According to the association, 2-axle semi-trailers now account for 80 percent of the semi-trailers operating in HCM City. This means that the unreasonable regulation is making the majority of transport firms suffer.

TBKTSG