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MOT kicks off plan to organize container transport by rail
Transport and logistics companies will benefit from the Ministry of Transport’s plan to organize the carrying of containers by rail.
Though MOT has just begun drawing up the plan to organize the container transport by rail in order to ease the overloading of the road system, the idea has been applauded by logistics and import-export companies. It is clear that the deeper involvement of the railway in the container carrying would bring bigger benefits to enterprises.
The Vietnam Railway last week submitted to the Ministry of Transport the most general factors of the plan on upgrading the container transport capacity in order to load off the road system.
Under the plan, in 2012 and 2013, the Vietnam Railway (VNR) would make investment to upgrade the capacity of carrying containers on the routes of Hai Phong – Hanoi and Hanoi – Lao Cai, which will help ease the overloading on the Highways No 5 and 70. In 2014 and 2015, VNT will continue implementing the necessary measures to upgrade the container transport capacity of all rail routes.
Currently, Hai Phong port is the only seaport which has the railway system connecting with the national railway system. In 2011, the volume of containers going through the Hai Phong port reached 1.2 million TEU (3300 TEU per day), while the average growth rate is 15-20 percent per annum. This has put a hard pressure on the road transport system, while containers of goods have been usually getting stuck at the ports, thus causing big losses to enterprises.
The biggest advantages of the project on carrying containers by rail are that big amounts of goods can be carried at the same time, while this allows to minimize accidents and the possible impacts on the environment. Especially, carrying containers by rail would require low expenses, thus helping businesses save money.
“If the railway can undertake the carrying of 330 TEU per day only, this would be equal to 200 trucks running on the Highway No 5,” said Deputy Minister of Transport Le Manh Hung.
Nguyen Manh Hung, Chair of the Vietnam Automobile Transportation Association, has also applauded the Ministry of Transport’s plan, even though this means that the market share of automobile transport enterprises would be smaller. He said that the deeper involvement of the railway in container transport would bring benefits to all, including transport enterprises.
According to the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, about 1000 vehicles run on the Highway No 5 every day, accounting for 30 percent of the total number of vehicles in circulation.
Since the beginning of 2011, on the stretch of road from Hung Yen to Hai Phong, the density of road traffic facilities has increased by 11.5 percent in comparison with the same period of the last year. Most of them are container carriers and overloaded trucks.
Meanwhile, on the Highway No 70, from Yen Bai to Lao Cai, about 1000 vehicles with the tonnage of over 30 tons run a day.
Therefore, Hung believes that the plan on carrying containers by rail would help reduce the expenses on equipment depreciation. Vehicles would not have to carry too much goods in comparison with their capacity, while they would be able to cut down some kinds of fees in circulation.
Trinh Vu Khoa, Deputy General Director of VOSA, a shipping firm, also applauded the plan, saying that the competition in terms of the service quality between the railways and roadway is always the thing that logistics companies want to see, because this benefits clients.
According to Tran Duy Luan, General Director of the Railway Cargo Transport Company, the proportion containers carried by rail remains modest, while with the current modern infrastructure, railway can carry more than 100 containers per day.
vietnamnet
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