The Prime Minister has recently asked the Ministry of Transport (MoT) and the Vietnam Maritime Administration to concentrate resources to deal with a serious shortage of deep-water ports, which forces Vietnam ’s import-export goods to transit other countries.

Accordingly, Lach Huyen port complex in the northern port city of Hai Phong and Cai Mep and Ben Dinh port complexes in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau will be the priority in the next five years.

The MoT is also assigned to focus investment in container ports and general ports in Cai Mep, Ben Dinh and Sao Mai in the Vung Tau Port , a gateway in the country’s southern region.

In mid-March, the nation’s first deep-water container port Tan Cang Cai Mep was officially put into operation in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, allowing businesses to directly ship their commodities to the US and Europe, reducing transportation time by 7-10 days.

This also creates a foundation for Vietnam to open a container transportation route linking the Mekong Delta region and Cambodia .

The Vietnam Maritime Administration reported that the country now has 266 seaports, most of them are small-scale ones, with a combined capacity of only 100 million tonnes while the total volume of goods going through the ports stood at 259 million tonnes last year.

Another problem is that Vietnam invested in only 13 metre-deep ports over the years, which are unable to receive regular large containers ships.

As a result, a large volume of commodities have to transit through third countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and the Republic of Korea, affecting Vietnamese goods’ competitive edge and business efficiency, the administration said./.