PM backs planned major transshipment port in HCMC

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said on Tuesday that the government will work with the southeastern region, including Ho Chi Minh City, to boost social-economic development and build a mammoth transshipment port project in the city.

During a working trip in HCMC, Vietnam’s southern economic hub, the PM scrutinized the site assigned for the port project in the coastal district of Can Gio, and the site for a sea encroachment urban area in the same district. Prior to that, he chaired a conference in HCMC held to debut the Coordinating Council for the southeastern region. Chinh is head of the council.

At the conference, the PM requested special development policies and mechanisms be issued for the region. He said the focus should be placed on three strategic breakthroughs linked to the growth drivers of consumption, investment, and exports. Efforts are needed to address transportation bottlenecks, protect the living and ecological environments, and deal with housing issues for workers and low-income earners, and slums in urban areas.

The PM said his working trip to HCMC aimed to make it possible for the region to achieve rapid and sustainable social-economic development as outlined by Resolution 24 of Vietnam’s Politburo, Resolution 98 of the National Assembly, and Government action plans.

Chinh then traveled by boat to Can Gio to get a closer look at the two above-mentioned major projects.

Under the HCMC Party Committee’s Resolution for the development of Can Gio until 2030, the coastal district will basically become a high-quality eco-tourism town. Among the key tasks are carrying out the transshipment port project and building the sea encroachment urban area.

The PM assigned HCMC authorities to coordinate with government agencies to accelerate the accomplishment of the city's goals in association with the southeastern region’s planning.

The Can Gio sea encroachment urban area will cover 2,870 hectares in Long Hoa commune and Can Thanh town, with total estimated investment of more than VND217 trillion ($9.18 billion). It will be built next to a mangrove forest with natural conditions similar to an international resort town.

$5.4 bln transshipment port project

In June, the Ministry of Transport said it plans to add the Can Gio transshipment port project to the 2021-2030 (vision until 2050) national seaport development plan. Up to $5.4 billion will be spent on the planned port, which will look to serve vessels of 24,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) or more.

It will be a hub for international container transport and be prioritized for investment, the ministry said.

According to a report by HCMC-based Portcoast Company, the consultant for the project, the port will be located on Phu Loi Island area at the mouth of the Cai Mep River, conveniently connected to the Pacific Ocean. It will sit in the buffer zone of the Can Gio mangrove biosphere reserve, and the construction of the port will not affect the core zone of the biosphere reserve.

According to the project’s timeline, investment preparation will be carried out from 2023 to 2024. Construction will be from 2024 to 2026, and the port will be launched in 2027 to handle vessels with a tonnage of up to 250,000 DWT (equivalent to 24,000 TEUs).

At present, ports in HCMC can handle 164 million tons of goods a year, or 55.1% of the total of the southeastern region, including 8.2 million TEUs. The quantity of TEUs going through the Can Gio area is projected to grow to 4.8 million in 2030 and 16.9 million in 2047, according to the Vietnam Maritime Corporation (VIMC), a leading maritime service provider which transformed from a state-run enterprise to a joint stock company in 2020.

Inner city ports in HCMC have already reached their planned capacity and were overloaded in 2022, the VIMC has said.

In a related development, the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade in June proposed adding the 6,000-megawatt Can Gio offshore wind power project to the National Power Development Plan for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 (widely known as PDP VIII).

Under the department’s proposal to the municipal People's Committee, the 325,123-hectare project has an estimated investment of VND313.37 trillion ($13.31 billion), including site clearance.