Construction of the Van Phong international transshipment seaport officially re-started in the central province of Khanh Hoa under a decision signed by provincial Chairman Vo Lam Phi on Sept. 11.

Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) was quoted by the Tuoi Tre (Youth) daily as saying that the ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled to take place this coming October, after a two year delay because of problems with the original location.

The project’s first phase will be the building of two deep-water piers in the Dam Mon area and Van Phong bay, that will be able to berth container ships up to 9,000 tonnes and will be able to handle 0.5 million tonnes of cargo annually.

The project, with an investment of over 1 trillion VND (roughly 55.5 million USD) in the first phase, has been designed by the Nippon Koei Company of Japan and Vietnam’s PortCoast Consultant Corporation.

The Van Phong bay plays the core role in the national maritime strategy and the national master-plan for the development of seaports up to 2020. It is the only location the Government has approved for the building of an international transshipment seaport.

The project was originally planned to begin construction in January 2008. It was later delayed as the Dam Mon area also interested the Posco Steel Group from the Republic of Korea for a steel mill and thermal power complex.

However, Posco’s project was officially rejected by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on November 13, 2008 for fears of it polluting the environment and affecting the Van Phong economic zones plans./.