Tân Cảng-Cát Lái Port in HCM City’s District 2 . — VNS Photo Ngọc Diệp

HCM CITY — The judicious distribution of goods between various ports has helped reduce congestion on roads leading to Cát Lái Port in HCM City, a Việt Nam Maritime Administration (Vinamarine) official has said.

Trịnh Thế Cường, head of maritime transport and services at Vinamarine, told a conference held on Thursday to review the measures to reduce traffic congestion around Cát Lái that they have fetched excellent results.

“Relevant units have worked with customers to convince them to send their goods through ports near their factories, instead of concentrating on Cát Lái.”

Besides, the city Department of Transport has speeded up work on key projects designed to reduce congestion in places like the flyover at the Mỹ Thủy intersection, the bridge across Kim Cương Island and a bridge and the section of the Eastern Belt Road from the Mỹ Thủy Intersection to the Phú Hữu Bridge, he said.

He hailed the Tân Cảng Sài Gòn Corporation for actively distributing goods meant for shipping between various ports like Cát Lái Port, the SP-ITC International Container Terminal in District 9 and the Cái Mép- Thị Vải Port Complex in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province.

Nguyễn Năng Toàn, deputy general director of the corporation, said, “This is an important factor in reducing congestion on roads leading to Cát Lái Port.”

The corporation has also modernised administrative procedures at ports, with delivery and reception of goods and payments now done online.

Electronic Delivery Orders (eDO) by shipping lines has risen to 400-500 containers per day, accounting for 8 per cent of the total volume of container imports at Cát Lái Port.

By October the corporation aims to increase this to 100 per cent of goods, he said.

It has also done a number of things to optimise work processes to reduce the waiting time for vehicles entering the port, create more favourable conditions for customers and increase the proportion of cargo transported by waterway to reduce pressure on roads. 

Transportation by waterway increased to 10.4 per cent from 7.9 per cent.

The rate of customers using delivery services at Cái Mép Port in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu and Tân Cảng-Hiệp Phước Port in HCM City has increased sharply from the previous year.

Some customers transfer all their imports from Cái Mép Port to Tân Cảng-Hiệp Phước Port instead of Cát Lái Port unlike in the past.

The cargo transported from Cái Mép to other ports in Bình Dương and Đồng Nai provinces has also increased significantly.

In the first six months of this year the number of containers at Cái Mép Port has increased by 23 per cent year-on-year while the volume of goods transported through Cát Lái has fallen by 6 per cent.

At the conference, officials from ports, shipping companies and government agencies suggested a number of measures to ensure Cát Lái Port’s sustainable development and meet the rising demand for transporting cargo.

The Tân Cảng Sài Gòn Corporation urged Vinamarine to direct the HCM City Port Authority to stop limiting the number of shipments (maximum 81 per week) to Cát Lái Port and prevent shipping lines from overloading their ships at Cát Lái Port.

“Limiting the number of shipments could affect shipping operators’ activities and increase costs for customers,” Toàn said.

Building a 200m jetty at Tân Cảng-Phú Hữu Port was discussed to meet the increasing demand for cargo transport from Sài Gòn Hi-tech Park.

The conference was organised by Vinamarine in collaboration with the city Department of Transport and Tân Cảng Sài Gòn Corporation. — VNS