Opening the Gate of the Country

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By Vietnam Pictorial reporters

Vietnam has nearly 3,300kin of coastline butmost of the system of the seaports is obsolete andsmall, unable to meet the increasing demand of astrongly developing economy. Therefore, plans to buildand develop a system of seaports, focusing onrenewing the technology, broadening the ports,building deep water ports and in-transit ports ofregional and international dimensions foraccommodating big freighters are being implemented.

The Vietnam National Shipping Lines is buildingdeep water ports, particularly Van Phong Port inKhanh Hen, into modern and large-scale internationalin-transit ports, expanding Lach Huyen Seaport in HalPhong to accommodate 60,000-80,000DWT-ships,building Ben Dinh Sao Mai Port and moving Sai GonPort to Cai Mep-Thi Vai area in Vung Tau toaccommodate big ships coming to handle goods. Theport is striving to reach a capacity of handling 50-55million tonnes of goods by 2010. With Vietnambecoming a member of the World Trade Organization,the amount of goods to the country will increase rapidlyand its economy will enjoy a high growth rate. Theseaports will play a more important role because theyserve as the gates to domestic and internationalmarkets. Building a modern system of seaportsbecomes more urgent.

Lying in the immense space of Ha Long Bay,Cai Lan Port together with Cai Lan Industrial Zone andBai Chay Bridge constitute a lively picture. Director ofCai Lan Port in Quang Ninh Vu Khac Tu said that it isthe most modern port in Vietnam. It was built inOctober 1999 with the ODA fund from the JapaneseGovernment and located in a favourable area shelteredfrom the wind, with less alluvia, deep water andstraight flow. The Port has a large area for turning,well-equipped wharfs, modern equipment for loadingand unloading goods and freight yards and stores ofinternational standards, able to handle simultaneouslythree 40,000DWT-ships. Vu Khac Tu also said that tomeet the requirements for integration, Cai Lan Portmust increase its competition and investment andrenew technology. In addition to three wharfs, No. 5, 6and 7 that work at full capacity, the Port has installedtwo more state of-the-art gantries and frame cranesfor handling goods. Local and foreign customers paymuch attention to the systems of controlling andmanaging the port's activities as well as handing overand receiving the containers, aiming to reduce thegoods-handling time.

Visiting Cai Lan Port, we realized that it has thescale of a modern international port. The floor issmooth and clean. The drainage and lighting systemsare arranged sensibly. It takes only seven minutes tosearch for the goods on the computer network. Also,every two hours, the places of the customers'containers are reported on the Port's website. Thanksto the use of information technology, the goods handling at Cai Lan Port is quick, saving 30% of thetime for loading and unloading a ship.

Apart from freighters, many tourist ships alsoarrive at Cai Lan Port. Since November 2006, 52tourist ships carrying tens of thousands of visitors havelanded at Cai Lan Port. Although operating for a shortperiod of time, the Port has achieved high praise fromdomestic and international friends.

Leaving Cai Lan Port, we visited Hal Phong Portwhich is more than 100 years old.

The area from the main port of Chua Ve to DinhVu Port is really a construction site. According toGeneral Director Ngo Bac Ha, Hai Phong Port has amodern infrastructure and equipment suitable tointernational modes of transport. It has nearly 3,000mof gangways and transport areas,

more than600,000m2 of freight yards and 51,000m2 of standardstores. Every year, the Port invests hundreds ofbillions of Vietnamese along in state-of-the-artequipment for loading and unloading goods, includingforklift trucks and crane trucks to meet the increasingcirculation of goods at the port. It has renewed themanagement information system ( MIS) and applied thequality management system ISO 9001 2000 in the seamanagement and exploitation. In 2006, the totalamount of goods handled at Hai Phong Port reached11.151 million tonnes, an increase of 6.08% over theyear 2005 and surpassing expectations.

On the path of integration, Hai Phong Portcontinues investment in its expansion, aiming toincrease the capacity of handling goods to 18-20million tonnes by 2010.

Phase 2 of the large-scale Dinh Vu Port Projectis being carried out at an area, 10km away from ChuaVe Port. When completed Dinh Vu Port will have eightwhan's that can accommodate ships of over20,000DWT.

Hai Phong Port has dredged 10-plus million m2of alluvial sands, reaching the depth of 7.3m, anincrease of 3m. The opening of a 5kin-long new routerunning via Cat Hai and Lach Huyen Islands is not onlysignificant to Hai Phong Port's history but also meetsthe needs of integration. Now, ships of 40,000DWTcan land at Dinh Vu Port through the new route,shortening the running time to meet the customers'demand.

Da Nang Port-a gate in central vietnam

Da Nang Port was inaugurated more than 100years ago and has become the fourth biggest port inthe country, after Sai Gon Port, Cai Lan Port and HaiPhong Port. It consists of two areas including Tien Saand Han River areas, with 1,493m of gangways.

Tien Sa area is a natural sea port with a waterdepth of 10-12m. With 965m of gangways, it cansimultaneously accommodate five ships includingRORO ships, freighters of up to 45,000DWT as wellas super-long, super-heavy freighters, containerships of 2,500TEUs and passenger ships of75,000GRT. The amount of goods handled at the portis 3.5-5 million tonnes a year. Lying by the Han River, two miles away from Tien Sa area is Han River port fordomestic freighters of 5,000DWT. It has a depth of 6-7m and is able to accommodate 10 shipssimultaneously. Its capacity of handling goods is nearlyone million tonnes a year.

Over the past five years, Da Nang City hasupgraded the transport system linking ports withindustrial zones and main highways in the region.Goods are transported on Highway 1A from thenorthern and southern provinces, on Highway 14B toprovinces in the Central Highlands or to Bo Y bordergate to Laos, Thailand and Myanmar in the East-WestEconomic Corridor.

Da Nang Port also receives tourist ships. In 2006alone, nearly 20,000 foreigners arrived at Da NangPort, more than twice as many people compared withthe year 2002.

We met and talked with some tourists who tookCosta Ship to visit Vietnam. All of them said that theyfelt comfortable when landing at Da Nang Port.Zaganin Elisa. Manager of Costa Ship tour said shehad arrived at Da Nang Port many times on her visitsto Vietnam. Like other foreign tourists, she waspleased and delighted because Vietnam in general andDa Nang in particular have many beautiful landscapes,such as the ancient town of Hoi An, My SonSanctuary, the old imperial capital of Hue, PhongNha-Ke Bang caves and grottos. Koki Shoji fromMitsui Company (Japan) was interested in theoperation capability and material conditions of Da NangPort so as to seek opportunities for co-operation.

Da Nang Port signed co-operation documentswith Kawasaki Port (Japan) in 1994 and with OaklandPort (US) in 2006, aiming to share experiences andinformation, train human resources and upgrade itsinfrastructure. Via Da Nang Port, the shipping routesfrom all parts of the world to Laos and North-easternThai Land is the shortest, most convenient and leastexpensive.

Sai Gon Port is always busy with trucks going inand out and ships from many countries anchoring towait for the handling of goods. Cranes of differentcategories work at full capacity. The managers,especially longshoremen and drivers have to regularlytake extra shifts but all of them are devoted 1o theirwork.

In recent years, the amount of goods handled atSai Gon Port, on the average, accounts for 32% ofthe total capacity of the seaport sector and more than30% of the total turnover of the Vietnam NationalShipping

Lines,

reaching

12,001,665

tonnes,maintaining the role of a major national port in the keyeconomic area in the South.

The economic development of the country andHo Chi Minh City as well has posed both advantagesand challenges to Sai Gon Port. General Director ofSai Gon Port, Le Cong Minh confided: "To surviveand develop, there is no other way but to bring into fullplay the internal force and increase co-operation andinvestment to tap the available potential and at thesame time make further investment in building Sai Gon Port into a national sea port of regional andinternational dimension".

To date, the Port has four developmentinvestment projects including a joint venture with SSAMarine ( US ) to build a container port in Cai Mep Hawith a total investment of 160 million USD, a jointventure with APM Terminal

(Denmark) to build acontainer port in Cai Mep Thuong with a totalinvestment capital of 186 million USD;a joint venturewith PSA ( Singapore ) to build Thi Vai Port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, and Hiep Phuoc project in Ho ChiMinh City with a total investment capital of 2,300billion Vietnamese dong which is being implemented asplanned to start operation by 2010. In the future, NhaRong-Khanh Hoi area, a part of Sai Gon Port will bechanged into an international tourist port.

The system of seaports lying along the country's 3,300km of coastline has experienced great changesto further open its gate to get new opportunities fornational development.

Now the country has 266 wharfs with a totallength of more than 35,000m and millions of squaremetres of stores and freight yards, able to receive 140million tonnes of goods a year. Over the last decade,the amount of goods handled at the ports increased by10-12% a year. It is expected that by 2010, theamount of goods handled at the pods will reach 265-plus million tonnes and increase to nearly 480 milliontonnes by 2020.

The master plan of the seaport system inVietnam will focus on three port complexes in theNorth, Central and South Vietnam. These complexescomprise main groups, including the group in thenorthern region (Quang Ninh - Ninh Birth ), the groupin the northern area of the central region (Thanh HoaNghe Tinh), the group in the central area of thecentral region (Quang Binh Quang Ngai), the groupin the southern area of the central region ( Binh DinhBirth Thuan), the group in Ho Chi Minh City, DongNai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, the group in the Cuu Long( Mekong ) River delta and the group in Con Dao.

In the field of investment, in 2006, the VietnamNational Shipping Lines ( VINALINES ) signedmemoranda of understanding with City Group (US) onlending the former 200 million USD to implementinvestment

projects,with

Deutsche

Bank

AG( Germany ) to become mutual long-term partners, andwith Credit Suisse {Switzerland) on lending the formerone billion USD to develop its fleets of ships and buildpods. VINALINES has established a joint ventureproject with SSA Holding International Vietnam (US)on investing, building and tapping the wharfs No. 2,3and 4 of Cai Lan Port in Quang Ninh.

( Edited by Yao Juan 姚　娟)