Currently, the volume of imported and exported goods of the Mekong River Delta ranges between 8 and 10 million tonnes per year, accounting for 17 percent of the total nationwide. However, seaports in the region only operate at 25-50 percent of their designed capacity and 70 percent of the region’s exported goods need to be shipped via ports in Ho Chi Minh City and Ba Ria – Vung Tau, which overloads road and port systems in the Southeast region. The main reason for this is limited passage caused by silting of estuaries in the Mekong River Delta. Heavy ships (over 5,000DWT), therefore, cannot come in and out of these ports.
The Mekong River Delta is home to some 26 ports of all scales. The port system plan of Vietnam to 2020, and vision to 2030, identifies that the port complex in the Mekong River Delta belongs to group No. 6, among which Can Tho’s port system (Cai Cui port, Hoang Dieu wharf, Binh Thuy wharf and Tra Noc – O Mon wharf) is a grade I port complex and is the marine transport focal point providing direct service to the Western Hau River subregion and the subregion between the Tien and Hau Rivers. Cai Cui Port has so far been invested with hundreds of billions of dong for re-construction. Phase 1 has been completed. This is the largest port in the Mekong River Delta. Once completed, the port can receive ships of 20,000 tonnes. Can Tho and Tra Noc ports have also received investment for upgrading. Transportation of cargo via these two ports saves US$5 per ton compared to the shipment via ports in Ho Chi Minh City area. In addition, Can Tho City is conducting research on the construction of a floating port on the East Sea (in the form of a transit port or a shore-connecting port). It is planned that by 2025, this project will have been completed and be able to receive ships of 60,000 tonnes.
Together with the port system of Can Tho, the grade II port system in localities along the Tien, Hau, and Cai Lon Rivers or near the West Sea includes such ports as Cao Lanh (Dong Thap province), Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Ben Tre, My Thoi (An Giang province), Hau Giang, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang and Nam Can (in Ca Mau province).
However, the passages at major estuaries such as Dinh An and Tieu of the Tien and Hau Rivers are currently silted up, preventing ships of 3,000 tonnes and more from entering and exiting. Consequently, goods are mainly transported by roadway to the Southeast port group and thereby freight charges are pushed up. According to economic experts, using road transport to Ho Chi Minh City and via Southeast ports drives up the transportation cost of each tonne of goods by US$8-10 (or US$180 per container). The competitiveness of local goods is, therefore, pushed down compared to that of other countries worldwide. Meanwhile, Cai Cui port is hoped to become the largest port in the Mekong River Delta, which is unlikely to be realized since ships of over 5,000 tonnes find it difficult to enter and exit the port. They have to pass Dinh An estuary which is regularly blocked with silt. Functional authorities and the Government have sought solutions for large ships to pass through Dinh An estuary by developing the project to open a passage via Quan Chanh Bo Canal (Tra Vinh province) with a view to “setting free” the designed capacity of Cai Cui port and other ports in the Hau River. The new and existing canal system will be dredged to reach the depth of 6.5-8.5 metres, the surface width of 200 metres and the canal bed width of at least 85 metres. So as to avoid silt, two breakwaters will be built at the two banks with total length of 4 kilometres. Quan Chanh Bo canal project is planned to be completed in 2012. However, current implementation progress is very slow and no feasible solutions for Can Tho port group have been devised. Dr Vo Hung Dung, Director of VCCI Can Tho Branch believes that even if the project is completed as scheduled, it will still take at least a decade before the system can be operated effectively.
Over the long term, the Ministry of Transport already approved the detailed plan for Mekong River Delta’s port group (group No. 6) until 2020, vision to 2030. The target of the plan is to guarantee an estimated volume of 56-70 million tonnes of goods per year by 2015, and 132-152 million tonnes of goods by 2020. The plan also aims at turning Can Tho port into a national port complex to serve as a focal point for the region. Local ports, specialized wharves around the Tien and Hau Rivers, Ca Mau Peninsula along the West Sea and Phu Quoc Island are satellite ports. Another objective the plan expects to achieve is to research and implement the project of transporting imported coal for power stations with ships of over 100,000 DWT and the project of transporting other types of goods with ships of over 100,000 DWT off the banks of the Hau River estuary.
Engineer Doan Manh Dung from Vietnam Association for Seaport Research says that in order to achieve the set targets as well as to accelerate trading with distant nations, it is necessary to use ships of large capacity (50,000-100,000 DWT) to reduce transportation cost and attain high economic efficiency. This requires the Mekong River Delta to have deep-water ports capable of receiving heavy-load ships. Dr Nguyen Huu Nguyen from Southern Economy Research Centre believes that, in line with endeavors to construct deep-water ports, it is of great importance to improve the quality of logistics service with a view to facilitating transportation, meeting demand for internal and inter-regional connection, and effectively combining transportation methods to reduce transport cost and time of import and export commodities of the region, thereby lowering pressure on traffic routes connecting the Mekong River Delta with Ho Chi Minh City.
Gia Hoa
Vietnamese
