Monday, 09/06/2008 11:37

Deputy PM cracks down on HCM City’s port backlog

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai yesterday ordered the Ministry of Transport and relevant agencies to take prompt action and clear the backlog of imports and exports at HCM City’s ports.

The Viet Nam Maritime Administration under the ministry and relevant authorities was asked to ensure that there were adequate numbers of navigators to safely direct ships going in and out of seaports in HCM City.

This, it said, was being done in an effort to create favourable conditions for the transport of goods and avoid a backlog that creates problems.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the main reason for the pile-up of containers at most seaports in HCM City was an unexpected increase in imports which the port was unable to handle due to its limited capacity for loading and unloading goods.

In the first five months of the year, imports at the Cat Lai Port increased remarkably by 43 per cent from the same period last year, whereas the number at the VICT stands at 40 per cent.

By the end of May, Tan Thuan Port was piled up with 140,000 tonnes of steel, while in previous years, the number averaged 60,000 tonnes.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien attributed the backlog to a lack of funds by some enterprises to free the goods.

He said this was caused by higher lending interest rates, and an intention to keep goods at ports while waiting for prices to furher increase.

He also said that the city’s improperly-built port system, poor seaport infrastructure and the jam in supply routes made the demand for storing and transporting goods beyond capacity.

A Sai Gon Port representative said more than 350,000 tonnes of goods needed to be freed-up.

The problem was that container transporters were only allowed to operate at night and even then only one could pass the Tan Thuan bridge at a time as the bridge was only able to carry a load of 25 tonnes.

To solve the problem, Bien suggested port management boards find measures to separate ways of importing and exporting goods in a bid to ease pressure on the ports.

The ports should also speed up their administrative procedures needed to free such imports as materials serving domestic processing activies and daily necessary goods.

Ports should expel companies’ imported cars that have been left there for a long time because relevant taxes have not been paid.

This month port management boards must list all the imported goods belonging to enterprises.

This way, the ministry and relevant agencies can consider assisting those companies that are short on capital and need help in freeing these goods quickly.

The ministry will also look into measures to sell steel ingots at ports to avoid re-exporting the products.

VNN

Other News

>   Ministry bans new cement making licences (09/06/2008)

>   Cuu Long delta expects good rice harvest (09/06/2008)

>   Construction industry to slash spending, projects (09/06/2008)

>   Removing obstacles to tra and basa catfish production (09/06/2008)

>   Shrinking rice farms get new lease on life (09/06/2008)

>   Da Nang gets aggressive with real estate (09/06/2008)

>   Vietnam targets 7-7.5 percent GDP growth rate in 2009 (09/06/2008)

>   PM: Vietnam able to deal with challenges for sustainable growth (09/06/2008)

>   HCM City urges Gov’t to ban re-export of steel (07/06/2008)

>   Dung Quat EZ lures 27 more projects (07/06/2008)

Online Services
iDragon
Place Order

Là giải pháp giao dịch chứng khoán với nhiều tính năng ưu việt và tinh xảo trên nền công nghệ kỹ thuật cao; giao diện thân thiện, dễ sử dụng trên các thiết bị có kết nối Internet...
User manual
Updated version