Vessels in Tiên Sa Port of Central Đà Nẵng City. Đà Nẵng plans to turn Liên Chiểu Port into a major cargo port in the central region and the East-West Economic Corridor No 2 connecting Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Việt Nam. — Photo baodauthau.vn

ĐÀ NẴNG — Đà Nẵng plans to turn Liên Chiểu Port into a major cargo port in the central region and the East-West Economic Corridor No 2 connecting Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Việt Nam with total investment of VNĐ3 trillion (US$133.3 million).

Liên Chiểu port, which currently handles 50,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) container ships, will be built to allow access to 100,000-tonne ships and cargo ship with loading capacity of 8,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs).

Vice chairman of the central city’s Nguyễn Ngọc Tuấn said the construction of the Liên Chiểu port will ease congestion at the overloaded Tiên Sa Port.

Tuấn also asked Ministry of Transport to start construction of the port in 2020 for operation in 2025 when Tiên Sa Port reaches its capacity of handling 11 million tonnes of cargo.

He said the deep-sea Liên Chiểu port is eligible for connection with railway and road systems from the East-West Economic Corridor No 2 (EWEC2).

Tuấn said Tiên Sa Port, which serves both cargo and cruise ships, will gradually be cruise port with an anticipated capacity of 250,000 tourists in 2030.

According to the ministry of transport, Tiên Sa port is designed for hosting 50,000 DWT container ships and 225,000 Gross Tonneage (GRT) cruise ships.

The central city also plans to upgrade Sơn Trà Port for 20,000DWT ships and build up an Inland Container Deport (ICD) to support ports in Đà Nẵng and Chân Mây port in neighbouring Thừa Thiên-Huế province.

A survey from the ministry of transport revealed that Đà Nẵng, which is situated at the end of EWEC, would handle 29 million tonnes of cargo by 2030.   

The central city’s port system including Tiên Sa, Liên Chiểu and Sơn Trà has been planned as the biggest integrated port among six seaports in Việt Nam (Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Kỳ Hà, Dung Quất and Đà Nẵng).

Last year, Đà Nẵng’s ports handled a record 6.5 million tonnes of cargo, and hosted nearly 120,000 tourists disembarking from cruises.

According to Việt Nam’s seaport system development plan to 2020, Đà Nẵng Port has been confirmed as a major commercial port in the region, making it one of the key gateways to the East Sea from the sub-Mekong region. — VNS