ĐÀ NẴNG  — The central city of Đà Nẵng plans to build an internal water route and pier system to transport cargo between Tiên Sa and Liên Chiểu ports and ease congestion on National Highway 14B caused by commercial cargo.

General Director of Đà Nẵng Port Joint Stock Company Nguyễn Hữu Sia told the Việt Nam News the project will be built with total investment of VNĐ300 billion (US$13.3 million) and will be operational in the second quarter of 2020.

Sia said the internal water route will reduce the number of containers in Tiên Sa Port that need to be transported on National Highway 14B by 20 per cent.

He said the route will be open to ships and barges under 5,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) from ports in Quảng Ngãi, Quảng Bình and Quảng Nam and north-south cargo shipment services.

“We plan to build a customs clearance and logistics service in Liên Chiểu District to receive and process cargo from neighbouring ports. It will be shipped by freighter to Tiên Sa Port to be loaded on cargo ships,” Sia said.

“This route will limit the amount of bulky cargo that is transported via roadways and causes serious traffic accidents and congestion,” he said. “National Highway 14B, which connects Tiên Sa Port, the Central Highlands region and National Highway No 1 and the Đà Nẵng-Quảng Ngãi Expressway, is very busy but measures like this one can help.”

Construction will start on the route in the second quarter of 2019.

Last year, Tiên Sa Port Company invested more than $44.2 million, of which 36 per cent was sourced from its own capital, to add two piers to Tiên Sa Port so it can handle 12 million tonnes of cargo per year.

The newly upgraded port can accommodate ships up to 70,000DWT or 4,000 twenty-foot container units (TEU), and cruise ships up to 150 gross tonnage (GT).

The port hosted eight million tonnes of cargo in 2017.

Last week, Đà Nẵng urged the Ministry of Transport to speed up construction on the first stage of Liên Chiểu Port so it can be ready to go into operation in 2022. — VNS