Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has ordered the Ministry of Transport and relevant agencies to take prompt action and clear the backlog of imports and exports at Ho Chi Minh City's ports.
The Vietnam 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 Ho Chi Minh City to prevent against a container backlog.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the main reason for the pile-up of containers at most seaports in Ho Chi Minh 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 significantly by 43 per cent from the same period last year, whereas the number at the VICT was up 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 release 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 further 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 Saigon port representative said more than 350,000 tonnes of goods need to be released.
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.
CargonewsAsia
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