Cat Lai port in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: laodong.vn) HCM City (VNA) – An international transitterminal project worth nearly 5.5 billion USD is expected to be built in CanGio district of Ho Chi Minh City, creating breakthroughs for the marine economyof the city, the southeastern region, and Vietnam as a whole.
The city’s Transport Department has proposed themunicipal People’s Committee to develop the project.
Under the proposal, the terminal will be located atthe mouth of the Cai Mep - Thi Vai River, in Ganh Rai Bay, near internationalshipping routes passing through the East Sea, between regions with great growthpotential in Asia.
In addition, the port is adjacent to the Vung Tau -Thi Vai navigation route, which is considered the best in Vietnam today as itcan accommodate vessels with a tonnage of up to 232,494 tonnes (24,000 TEU).
The port’s location is considered to havecompetitive advantages that can help attract international sources of goodsfrom countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, Brunei, thePhilippines, and the southern part of China.
Currently, goods from those countries are mainly transshippedvia Singapore or Malaysia. If transhipped via the Can Gio terminal, the goods’journey is reduced by about 30% - 70% compared to the distance transported toSingapore.
Regarding the volume of cargo through the port, itis forecast that the proportion of transshipped container goods will reach28% - 30% of the total volume of global container transport, equivalent to 274- 293 million TEUs by 2025. In particular, nearly 60% of the volume of globalcontainer shipping is through the East Sea.
Ports in Southeast Asia will account for about 30%of the transshipment volume, equivalent to 82-88 million TEUs by 2025. The capacityof Southeast Asia's international transshipment ports is currently nearly 53.6million TEUs. So, new ports will still have the opportunity to attract 28.4 -34.4 million TEU of transshipment goods.
Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA) In particular, the investment commitment from theMediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world’s largest container shippingfirm, will ensure cargo for the Can Gio terminal. The volume of cargo throughthe Can Gio international transshipment port is forecast to be 4.8 millionTEU by 2030, and 16.9 million TEU by 2047.
Can Gio international transit terminal is said tonot affect or compete with Cai Mep - Thi Vai port in Ba Ria - Vung Tauprovince. The volume of international transshipment at the port is very small,less than 5%, and mainly from Cambodia. Cai Mep-Thi Vai port cannot receivevessels with a capacity of over 10,000 TEU while the Can Gio terminal is builtto mainly serve transshipment goods.
Economic expert Tran Du Lich, a member of theGovernment's Advisory Group, said that the Can Gio terminal project hasfavourable conditions for implementation, particularly in terms of location andinvestors.
It’s not a matter if it’s necessary to build theterminal but the matter now is how to deploy it as quickly as possible so asnot to miss the opportunity, Lich said.
He suggested the Southeast Coordination Committeeneeds to join hands to speed up the project concertedly.
The project proposal is expected to be reported tothe Ministry of Transport and submitted to the Prime Minister in May 2024. Ifapproved, it is divided into seven implementation phases with thefirst expected to be completed in 2027 and the last, in2045./.
