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Saigon Port seeks transport ministry intervention to ease load
Parent company Vinalines said Wednesday it has asked the Ministry of Transport to call other ports nearby and have them receive more unpacked cargo in a bid to ease congestion at its subsidiary Saigon Port.
Vinalines itself would ask its other subsidiaries like Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Da Nang, and Cam Ranh to lend equipment to HCMC-based Saigon Port to speed up handling, said Nguyen Huu Chieu, deputy general director of Vinalines.
Le Cong Minh, General Director of Saigon Port, said the high volume of unpacked and uncontainerized cargo like sand, cassava, fertilizer, and animal feed is overloading the port.
Of 6.3 million tons of cargo the port received in the first four months of this year, 3.6 million tons were unpacked and uncontainerized, which took a long time to handle, Minh said. Most of them are often packed at the port, he said.
He also said as handling fees for unpacked and uncontainerized cargo are cheaper than containerized goods , other nearby ports are not willing to receive them and therefore, they have flooded Saigon Port.
The port may suggest cargo owners mobilize additional handling equipment so that goods can be released sooner.
The port has hired 1,000 extra workers to speed up the handling, raising the total number to 2,600, Minh said.
As of Tuesday, 12 vessels were waiting to either load or unload at the port, he added.
Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, Sales Manager of Thanh Binh Company based in the southern province of Dong Nai, said a vessel carrying 3,000 tons of her company’s palm oil arrived at Saigon Port on April 17 but was still waiting to unload, Tuoi Tre reported.
Tran Tam
thanhnien
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