Van Phong Port gets new lease on life
Posted by Bao Viet Nam on January 9, 2009
HCM CITY — With the country’s first international transit port in the central province of Khanh Hoa back on track after almost being abandoned last year, the Government is scouting for foreign investors.
Deputy Primer Minister Hoang Trung Hai has told the Ministries of Transport, Finance, Investment and Planning to make a comprehensive plan for the port to come up in Van Phong Bay.
The project’s major investor, Viet Nam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), would work with the foreign partner on the details and secure the required licences, he added.
The project, approved in 2007, was almost mothballed early last year, with its groundbreaking ceremony cancelled, after South Korea’s Posco and Khanh Hoa Province proposed a US$10 billion steel plant and a 1,100MW power plant in Dam Mon on part of the land earmarked for the port.
But at the end of last year, the Government disallowed their proposed projects on environmental grounds, effectively reviving the port project.
Ideal location
A study has found the 45,000-ha bay’s average water depth of 22-27m ideal for large vessels. It also has a natural barrier from the weather and tides in the form of Hon Gom island.
Economists have opined that if Van Phong becomes an international transit port, it would not only benefit Khanh Hoa immensely but also cause a major change to the Southeast Asian region’s marine services industry.
“We now pay foreigners at least US$3 billion in transshipment fees every year,” former Vinalines director Chu Quang Thu said.
The fees add 10 to 15 per cent to the cost of goods.
He said that the terminal would enable Viet Nam to stop depending on Hong Kong and Singapore for transshipping containers bound for Europe and North America, saving $101-231 per container.
Once ready, Van Phong would do the job now done by Hong Kong and Singapore – transship goods for other countries.
Domestic shipping services handle a mere 20 per cent of Viet Nam’s total foreign trade with the rest done by foreign agencies.
Vinalines said transshipment is a crucial link in the logistics chain that is becoming increasingly popular internationally. —
