Ports plan for Vietnam

As part of a review, investors are being asked to shoulder a larger responsibility for designing, building and managing maritime facilities.

The Seaport System Master Plan covering the period up to 2030 has now been submitted for prime ministerial approval. This will allow investors to decide on the overall capacity of their facility, while also identifying suitable locations for ports.

Having recognised that securing funding from its own resources is impossible, the Vietnamese government has welcomed private sector involvement. These investors are being asked to fund breakwaters and access roads, as well as terminal infrastructure.

The lack of genuine deep water ports means that goods from Vietnam have to be dispatched from hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Saigon Premier Container Terminal at the Port of Ho Chi Minh City has received its first vessel. The port is equipped with 500 metres of quay and can accommodate vessels of 50,000 tonnes. The port forms part of a cluster of ports in the region, whose combined capacity will enable them to handle 200m tonnes annually by 2012.