
In the Lloyd's 2023 list, which ranked ports by the volume ofcontainer traffic represented in million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), theport of HCM City secured the 23rd position, slipping one spot from the previousyear’s list. With 106 routes in Asia, one to America and two to Europe, the160-year port handled over 7.9 million TEU in 2022, down 0.6% year-on-year.
The Hai Phong Port also dropped one place to the 31st position,handling over 5.6 million TEU in 2022. As Vietnam’s second largest containerhub, it facilitates 69 routes within Asia, two to America and one to Europe.
Maintaining its 32nd position, the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port in Ba Ria- Vung Tau province managed the throughput of nearly 5.6 million TEU. Itservices nine Asian routes, 21 to America and five to Europe.
Vietnam leads the ASEAN region with three ports in the Lloyd’s list,followed by Malaysia with two ports, while the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand andSingapore each have one.
Most of Vietnam’s international trade relies on sea transport. Thecountry’s seaport system is now capable of accommodating the world’s largesttonnage vessels, drawing in 40 major global shipping lines.
In 2023, Vietnam’s freight transport reached more than 2.3 billiontonnes, up by 15.4% year-on-year, with goods turnover hitting 490 billiontonnes, up 10.8%.
For the first two months of 2024, freight transport was estimatedto increase by 13.9% to 416 million tonnes, with goods turnover rising by 14%to 88 billion tonnes compared to the same period in 2023. Notably, waterway andmaritime freight transport have shown impressive growth rates of 21% and 18.1%,respectively.
As of 2023, Vietnam's sea fleet comprised 1,447 vessels, including1,015 cargo ships, totalling approximately 10.7 million DWT. The country ranks3rd in ASEAN and 27th globally, with an average vessel age of 15.5 years.Vietnamese enterprises own foreign-flagged vessels with a total tonnage of 2.5million DWT.
According to the Ministry of Transport, Vietnam's sea fleet hasseen rapid growth in recent years, handling 100% of domestic cargo volume and6-8% of the export-import cargo market share./.