Cargo and cruise ships dock at Chân Mây Port in the central Thừa Thiên-Huế Province. CMA-CGM Group will start operating a service from here in June. — Photo courtesy of Chân Mây Port Authority

THỪA THIÊN-HUẾ — A container ship, CNC Bangkok of France's CMA-CGM Group, will make its maiden voyage on June 3, departing from Chân Mây Port, the first time a global logistics firm has linked to the port.

Manager of the port’s container division Võ Đại Phong said the shipping group will begin carrying commodities and exports from local businesses at the provincial industries parks and the Chân Mây-Lăng Cô Economic Zone to global ports and importers.

He said the tanker with 21,000DWT (deadweight tonnage) plans to ship to ports of Laem Chabang in Thailand, to Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya and Kobe in Japan, and Busan and Kwangyang in Korea before returning to Chân Mây Port.

“It is the first international ocean shipment from Thừa Thiên-Huế provincial main port to worldwide ports, promoting co-operation opportunities and shipment links among world ports and the province’s logistics industry,” Phong said.

“The co-operation between the Chân Mây Port management board and CMA-CGM Group shipping group aims to boost operation of cargo ship fleets and supporting businesses and producers in central Việt Nam in approaching to global market via worldwide logistics chain service.”

The central province has given support to help local businesses and shipping agents to boost production and exports.

Each shipping agent will be given VNĐ210 million (US$8,400) in assistance for each sea trip, while each 20-feet container will receive VNĐ800,000 ($32) and VNĐ1.1 million ($44) for a 40-feet container.

The province said the operation of the new international cargo route would also help local businesses in the neighbouring provinces of Quảng Bình and Quảng Trị, connecting them with the world market via Chân Mây Port and the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) that links Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Việt Nam.

A container ship from the CMA-CGM Group traveling in an international cargo route. — Photo courtesy of Chân Mây Port Authority

It said the Chân Mây – Lăng Cô Economic Zone, located about 6-7km from National Highway No 1 and the North-South railway with two airports of Phú Bài and Đà Nẵng, is home to 47 projects with a total registered investment of VNĐ79.3 trillion ($3.4 billion) for tourism, urban, logistics and high-tech.

Thừa Thiên–Huế has been accelerating the infrastructure construction to lure strategic investors and environmentally friendly projects, while the Chân Mây Port has been upgraded to be able to handle up to six million tonnes of cargo per year.

In 2022, the first domestic container route – which was jointly developed by Chân Mây Port and Hải An transport companies – was launched from the port linking it to Hải Phòng and HCM City, operating twice a week.

Port authorities say they can handle 70,000DWT (deadweight tonnage) cargo ships, 4,000TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) container ships and 225,000GT (gross tonnage) cruise ships, along with having a 200,000DWT trans-shipment area.

It plans on improving this capacity with bonded warehouses and a depot container freight station.

It currently handles between 4 million to 4.5 million tonnes of cargo annually, but it wants to increase its capacity to 5 million or 6 million tonnes by 2025. — VNS