Former shipping chief urges Van Phong Port developers to ‘think big’

VietNamNet Bridge – Construction of Van Phong Port is set to begin in northern Khanh Hoa province in the near future. Dr. Chu Quang Thu, former head of the Vietnam Maritime Bureau (Vinamarine), warned that the developers are aiming too low. He says the site has the potential to become another Singapore.

Known up until now principally as a scuba diving paradise, Van Phong Bay, some 100 kilometers to the north of Nhatrang City on Vietnam’s central coast, is slated for development as a deepwater port.

According to Nguyen Trong Hoa, Head of the Management Board of Van Phong Economic Zone, site clearance for Van Phong port project has been completed, a road to the port site has been built and electricity is ready to be provided.

Thu told Tuoi Tre newspaper that “the worldwide trend is toward bigger container ships. They are more economical. It would be a big waste if at Van Phong we only build a harbor to handle ships in the 6000 to 9000 TEU range. [A TEU is a ‘twenty foot equivalent unit,’ that is, a standard shipping container]. The natural water depth is 16.5 metres in the bay’s Dam Mon area. Vietnam will not see Van Phong develop into a big international transit port if it cannot receive the biggest ships, 15,000 to 18,000 TEU.”

People still don’t understand why we should build big harbors for big ships, while Vietnam’s ships are just in the 200... TEU range?

Dr. Chu Quang Thu, former head of the Vietnam Maritime Bureau (Vinamarine)

Singapore and Hong Kong have become rich partially because they have international transit ports. Countries like Vietnam, which export to the US and Europe, must carry containers to Singapore, where they are classified and put into larger ships in order to save on costs.

Up till 2009, Vietnamese could not receive 4,000 TEU and bigger container ships. Typically, 2000 TEU ships carry goods from HCM City and Hai Phong to Singapore and Hong Kong for consolidation and transshipment.

Transshipping costs Vietnamese exporters an additional cost of $400 per every TEU. My former office, Vinamarine, has found that Vietnam ‘loses’ nearly $1.5 billion every year because big container ships cannot enter Vietnam’s ports.

If we develop an international transit port at Van Phong Bay, it will be able to earn big sums of money. 80 billion dong will fall into the pocket of Khanh Hoa province every time an oil tanker docks at the port. World-scale ports serve dozens or even several hundred ships every day. Van Phong will help the surrounding region prosper. It is nearer to [several] shipping routes than Singapore.

If we only build a harbor for 6,000-9000 TEU ships, we’ll exclude the most popular class of ships, the 12,000 TEU size. Unlike Hai Phong and Saigon ports, Van Phong is far from industrial zones. Its natural advantage is as a transhipment point, but if big foreign ships do not dock the port to load transit commodities, the port will sit idle. We must learn a lesson from Cai Lan port [near Ha Long Bay, northeast of Haiphong], which has been receiving few ships.

Some say we should only build small harbors because our financial resources are limited . . . .

We should not think that way. I do not think that we will lack capital for investment. Investors are ready to provide money if they think that the Government is heading the right way. The competition among international ports is now very stiff. If we aim too low because we don’t have funds in hand, and so the ships don’t use Van Phong, it will be a real loss.

We should build one pier for 15,000 TEU ships instead of two piers for 6000-9000 TEU ships, even though the cost will double.

How do you imagine Van Phong port should operate?

Vietnam should follow international practice. I think that we should design Van Phong port area as a bonded transit area.

If Vietnam still insists on unloading commodities for inspection and ignores international practice, foreign ships will stay away. If we really want to get into the global ‘game,’ however, we should waive the docking fee for five to ten years in order to attract foreign ships. Vietnam will still be able to earn a billion dollars a year from charges for transit services.

Without a world-class transit port, we and our grandchildren will have to keep carrying our goods to Singapore. The people there will earn the money we should be earning. We need to take sensible actions to awaken the potential of Van Phong Port.

VietNamNet/TT