Technical Report No. 8 PORT AND SHIPPING

II-4-13
Vietnam National Transport Strategy Study (VITRANSS)
Technical Report No. 8
Shipping and Ports
But in other cases, governmental opinion may not coincide with local
conditions, therefore the establishment of a management committee
composed of local transport officers and users is recommended as an
advisory organization.
(3) VINAMARINE Port
Based on the separate functions of the “Regulator (government)” and
“Operator (Port Management Body)”, VINAMARINE should operate
unprofitable but socially important ports only, since it would be difficult for
the regulator to direct it (VINAMARINE) with the same strictness as would
a private company.
3) Port Operation
The productivity of port operation shall be improved to meet increasing port
traffic in the future. Speedy handling, clean operation and safe transport are
common in a modern terminal. If a tariff system reflects improved productivity
or a port contract provides incentives, for example, discounts, a port user can
accept it. At present, the discount rate in Vietnamese ports is set at a
maximum of 10%, but double this would still be reasonable. In the case of
Singapore port, its discount rate ranges up to 30% depending on container
handling volume.
4) Containerization
Containerization of maritime cargo commenced in 1966 and reached its level
of saturation in developed countries 25 years later.
In Vietnam, containerization started in the late 1980s. Its containerization
level is projected to match that of developed countries, at 7.0 million TEU
under the high case in 2020. Compared with world container statistics, this
figure is almost the same as that of Japan in 1988 and the UK in 1997.Usually
container cargo volume begins at a low level, increasing rapidly after five
years. After 25 years and nearing the maximum capacity, the increase rate
tapers off. The necessary period of containerization development in Vietnam
before it reaches the same level as that of its trading partners is estimated at
25 years.
There seems to be two inverse conditions observed in Vietnam. The longer
the route distance, the less direct shipping services available. The more there
are volumes on a route, the more there are direct shipping services.
On a long sea route, a larger container vessel has less unit container
transport cost compared with a smaller vessel. Therefore, shipping lines
generally tend to use larger vessels and collect more containers for a long