Vung Ro Port Poised to Become Seaport Service Hub

Vung Ro Port Company Limited has spared no effort to promote tradition while propelling the company forward in alignment with the potential and developmental trajectory of Phu Yen province. Bolstered by this momentum, Vung Ro Port is steadfastly steering its vision toward emerging as an important seaport service hub, poised to meet the socioeconomic imperatives of not just the province, but also the wider Southern Central region and the Central Highlands.

All favorable elements

Vung Ro Port is a local general seaport (third class) in the Southern Central seaport group (Group 3) of Vietnam, located in Vung Ro Bay, Dong Hoa town, Phu Yen province. The port is surrounded by mountains in the west, the east and the north and shielded from waves and wind. It lies near international and domestic maritime routes. The entrance channel is short and deep enough to accommodate ships of up to 50,000DWT. The average depth in the bay is 15-20 meters and the water surface area is 15 square kilometers. This is an ideal anchorage for ships to shelter from storms and transship goods. The port entrance passage is wide, airy, and 2.8km long, favorable for ships to enter and exit. Furthermore, Vung Ro Port has an ideal location that is rarely seen elsewhere. On roads, the port lies between South Phu Yen and North Khanh Hoa, with the national railway and National Highway 1A passing through. It is connected to Central Highlands provinces in the west, which is very convenient for transporting goods by road.

“Since coming into operation, Vung Ro Port has contributed much to local socioeconomic development. The average amount of cargo served by the port every year is 10% greater than its designed capacity. In many years, its cargo throughput is double its designed capacity,” said Mr. Huynh Xuan Minh, Director of Vung Ro Port Co., Ltd.

After more than 20 years of operation, Vung Ro port has remarkably supplied seaport services; gradually established and deliver key seaport services such as cargo stevedoring and forwarding, warehousing and towing; affirmed its role and position and effectively supported domestic merchandise shipping for export to and import from Phu Yen as well as neighboring provinces, thus promoting local socioeconomic development.

Evolution into a modern hub

Vung Ro is well-known for its wartime secret navy service, characterized by “no identity” vessels. During the American war, unnumbered vessels of the Vietnamese People's Navy carrying weaponry to the southern front chose Vung Ro as a gathering point for many years and made a shocking event in Vietnam and in the world on February 16, 1965. The bay already entered the heroic history of the nation, the pride of the army and people of Phu Yen. Now, this place has given a facelift to this previously poor land, and boosted its full strength in marine economy and tourism. Vung Ro is large enough to receive many projects at the same time, with focus on upmarket tourism to create historical milestones and provide new development momentum for Nam Phu Yen Economic Zone and the whole province. The dreams of Vung Ro and modern Vung Ro Port are what Phu Yen people and Vung Ro Port Co., Ltd aspire to.

Vung Ro Port, a third-class local general seaport , is situated in Vung Ro Bay, Dong Hoa town, Phu Yen province

Despite significant development steps, the limited scale of infrastructure and equipment inhibits Vung Ro Port from developing seaport services in commensuration with local needs and potential. Regarding this matter, Director Minh said, despite its geographical location and extremely favorable natural conditions, Vung Ro Port now cannot strongly participate in merchandise export and import (but it plays an important role in developing domestic freight transportation, serving people's livelihoods, especially for agriculture and rural construction, such as transporting cement and fertilizers and exporting agricultural products and minerals). In addition, if it does not directly import and export commodities, Vung Ro Port importantly gathers exported goods for major ports and transships imported goods and equipment for industrial development.

Vung Ro Port has contributed much to local socioeconomic development

Being aware of this, the company invested in infrastructure upgrading. The company has gradually upgraded its existing infrastructure, equipment and loading and unloading technologies to quickly increase productivity, reduce labor intensity for workers, ensure safety for human and goods, reduce loading and unloading costs and cargo handling time for customers. In addition, Vung Ro Port Co., Ltd has strengthened training and improved the quality of human resources to meet development requirements, especially cargo operators and technicians, aiming to make Vung Ro Port a seaport that well serves customers’ demand and international economic integration.

“With its role and position in socioeconomic development of Phu Yen and neighboring provinces in the region, especially Central Highlands provinces and the actual demand for goods through economic development policies of Vietnam and local socioeconomic development strategies relating to it, Vung Ro Port needs to have meticulous research on port service expansion and development commensurate with available needs and potential. Our goal is to make Vung Ro Port an important seaport service center soon to meet socioeconomic development needs of Phu Yen and Southern Central and Central Highlands provinces and a gateway to the sea for these regions. We pursue open, integrated development, with appropriate steps to harmonize marine value preservation with sustainable development by utilizing natural advantages, geographical location, cultural identity, ecosystem diversity and regional connectivity,” he noted.

Hoang Lam  (Vietnam Business Forum)