Technical Report No. 8 PORT AND SHIPPING

3.3 Infrastructure
II-3-6
Vietnam National Transport Strategy Study (VITRANSS)
Technical Report No. 8
Shipping and Ports
The combined berth length of the three major ports accounts for about 36% of the
country’s total berth length. One of these ports, Hai Phong, has undergone several
expansion and improvement projects since beginning operations in 1876. It has a
limited port area, a channel length of 38 km and a depth of only 4.2 meters. It can
only accommodate vessels of 10,000 DWT or less even during high tide. Its berth
occupancy rate is 60%, according to port management. This can be mainly attributed
to the port’s use of ship’s gears instead of port cranes in handling cargoes.
Moreover, the port is equipped with old equipment such as Kondor cranes, old
American-made floating crane, old Russian-made Kirov jib cranes, mobile cranes,
tug boats, etc., most of which are not suitable for handling containerized cargoes.
The facilities of Danang port are almost in the same condition. With an ideally
deep channel of 11-12 meters, the port can accommodate vessels of 30,000
DWT. This port handled 40-50% of the total cargo throughput in the area.
Saigon port, being in the center of HCMC, cannot function effectively because of
a lack of land and congested road network. Being a river port where the average
depth of the channel is 9 meters, this port can accommodate vessels up to
25,000 DWT. Besides serving the whole area of Ho Chi Minh City and Mekong
delta, this port is also important to the economic development of Ba Ria-Vung
Tau province.
Table 3.3.1
Port Facilities in Vietnam
Owner
Berth Length
(m)
Berth Area
(m 2 )
Storage Area
(m 2 )
Terminal Area
(m 2 )
1. MOT 8,267 137,827 183,585 780,590
2. Province 2,288 48,993 52,420 170,400
3. Joint Venture 2,059 35,977 81,542 76,823
4. Other
Ministries
7,544 85,500 525,947 1,156,113
TOTAL 20,154 307,797 843,494 2,183,926
Source: MOT-TDSI, 1998