The Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) said it will officially launch the construction of the Van Phong international transhipment port in the central province of Khanh Hoa on October 31.

The 12,500m transhipment port, which is a key national project hosted by the Ministry of Transport, is invested with more than 3.6 billion USD and is capable of receiving over 200 million tonnes of goods per year and container ships of up to 17,000-TEU in capacity.

As part of a general plan for Vietnam ’s sea port system by 2020, Van Phong port will constitute the only international transhipment port in the country.

The construction project is divided into four stages with the initial stage scheduled to be completed by 2013. The first stage will be executed from 2010-2015, on an area of 118-125 ha with a total port length of 1,680-2,260 m.

In the second stage, eight container ship wharves will be built on an area of 405 ha with a total port length of 4,450-5,710 m. able to receive 12,000 TEU ships.

For the last stage, 25 wharves receiving 17,000 TEU containers ships will be built on an area of 750 ha with a port length from 11,880-12,590 m./.