VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Transport (MOT) plans to reconsider the port system in the south to optimize the operation of the ports, while it is considering applying a new management model for the Hai Phong port in the north.

Nguyen Van Cong, Deputy Minister of Transport, said his ministry will reconsider the performance of the southern ports and apply necessary measures as suggested by JICA, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, to upgrade the efficiency of the ports’ exploitation.

JICA, has warned that the Cai Mep – Thi Vai port complex and other ports in HCM City would operate ineffectively by 2015 if Vietnam does not make reasonable changes in the investment and the goods supply & demand basis.

According to JICA’s newly released report on the current situation and the strategy to optimize the container ports’ operation in the southern provinces, the container ports in the south have seen the annual growth rate of 12 percent in 2009-2012. Of the ports, the ports in HCM City made up 79 percent of the total exploited capacity, while the Cai Mep – Thi Vai (deep water port) 19 percent.

The report has also pointed out that the performance of common ports is much higher than deep water ports. This is explained by the fact that there are few consignments of goods going through the Cai Mep – Thi Vai port complex, because it is costly to go through the port than the other ports in HCM City.

Cai Mep – Thi Vai is far from industrial zones, which forces shipping firms pay expenses for round-trips, because there are only goods to carry from industrial zones to the port complex, but no goods from Ba Ria – Vung Tau to industrial zones.

This shows that the ports in HCM City still play a very important role in the transportation of domestic goods and exports, if compared with other ports in the south.

However, according to JICA, the oversupply may occur with the ports in HCM City by 2015, and if the problem cannot be settled by the reasonable planning adjustment, the southern ports would be operating ineffectively by that time.

JICA has suggested a series of measures to help upgrade the efficiency of the Cai Mep – Thi Vai. One of the measures is to establish the port authorities in the area.

MOT is also considering applying the model of port authorities for the Hai Phong port, the most important port in the north.

According to Cong from MOT, the biggest characteristic and problem of the Vietnamese port system is the lack of big ports and the abundance of small ports. Meanwhile, the terminal operators are from different sectors, from joint ventures to private businesses, from military businesses to foreign invested enterprises.

Therefore, Cong believes that it is necessary to set up the port authorities which will be the unit which manages the operators.

Regarding the port authorities model, Cong thinks that at present, the model is suitable to Hai Phong port only, while it is not suitable to the Cai Mep – Thi Vai complex, because there are many ports which make it very difficult to apply the centralized management mechanism.

Kim Chi