Rampant seaport construction causes waste

Rampant seaport construction has left a number of them unused and wasted thousands of billion VND.

Shoddy transportation infrastructure causes problems for ports

Representatives of a number of shipping companies have suggested that the Vietnam Maritime Bureau should ask the prime minister to stop funding new seaports, and close those that are not being used, in order to fully employ capacity of the country\'s major ports.

They made these views clear at a conference on the enhancing the management of seaport, held in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province on September 29.

Too many seaports

According to general secretary of Vietnam Seaports Association, Ho Kim Lan, the country now has 56 seaports of various sizes.

“Almost every coastal province and city has a port,” he said. “However, their rampant construction, without planning in terms of volume, has led to a situation where many of them are operating at 20% or 30% of their capacity."

Nguyen Xuan Ky, Deputy Director of Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT), said: “Since the government has authorized localities to license seaport projects, many have been built based only on investors\' proposals."

Pham Anh Tuan, Deputy general director of Portcoast Consultant Corporation, pointed out that most of these ports are small, while the increasing demand was in big container shipment.

"It would be much less wasteful if we concentrated our trade into our larger ports with higher capacity," he said.

More seaports, less demand

According to Ky, if the rampant construction is not stopped, many modern ports like CMIT will end up closing. “Many new seaports will be put into operation in the Cai Mep-Thi Vai area in the near future, including SSIT, ODA, Gemalink. But the volume of goods being shipped is not on the rise. This could lead to ports competing for fees."

Ky stressed that foreign shipping firms would take advantage of this competition, leaving Vietnamese ports to lose out.

A representative from a seaport in Cai Mep- Thi Vai area also suggested the Government limit new licenses for building seaports in areas with no real demand. “The construction of Van Phong Port in Khanh Hoa Province could be delayed 20 years because there is currently no real demand,” he said.

Shortcomings

Regarding the current shortcomings of Vietnamese seaports, Lan stated that many seaports are isolated due to the lack of transportation routes. “Many roads to seaports are in a state of neglect. We have asked the government and other relevant agencies to address this problem," he said.

The situation is not confined to small ports. "Many of Vietnam’s large ports, including those in Haiphong, Cai Lan and HCM City lie inland, making it difficult for big ships to get through the narrow waterways,” added Doan Manh Dung, deputy chairman and general secretary of the HCM City Oceanic Science and Technology Association.

According to Dung, another drawback of Vietnamese seaports is that they are near crowded residential areas and can only operate at night, which limit their capacity.

Head of Vietnam Maritime Bureau Nguyen Ngoc Hue said that they will give priority to upgrades of the Cai Mep - Thi Vai seaport area, allowing it to serve large ships and improve the surrounding transportation system.