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Container shortage delays exports
A shortage of containers has led to late export deliveries to partners overseas, leading to financial losses for local companies.
Many exporters have been forced to register with shipping companies two or three weeks in advance to reserve containers.
The shortage began in March, but the problem has become more severe recently, although this is not the peak export season, according to Tran Tuan Khanh, a representative of a wood export company in HCM City.
Companies that export large volumes of goods to major transport routes such as the US and EU have been more seriously affected.
Huynh Thanh Tung, Director of a textile and garment company, said the problem was worse in the south.
Some companies like Secoin Building Materials, based in HCM City, regularly export with predictable volumes, and as a result, have had encountered fewer problems than those with irregular contracts or orders.
Experts said that the container shortage was partly due to the increase in the number of export contracts signed by Vietnamese companies.
Most enterprises involved in exports of garments, leather shoes, coffee, furniture and handicraft products have been affected the most.
Le Quoc An, Chairman of the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association, said most apparel enterprises had signed more export contracts this year compared to last year.
The textile and garment sector achieved total export turnover of US$4.8 billion in the first six months of the year, a year-on-year increase of 17.2 per cent.
Export turnover of farm produce, forest products and seafood also increased 13.5 per cent year-on-year to $8.6 billion in the first half of 2010, reports the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
According to the Viet Nam Timber and Forest Product Association, member companies signed more contracts with the US this year, which has increased exports by 5 per cent.
A representative of the Viet Nam Maersk Company Limited, a major UK shipowner and one of the biggest shipping companies, said the lack of containers was also an international problem caused by a shortage after the global recession in 2009.
Despite economic recovery, investment in containers has remained lower than usual.
vietnamnews
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