Swiss shipping line MSC eyes investment in central Vietnam port

Switzerland-headquartered Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), among the world’s largest shipping lines, is looking to invest in Danang city’s Lien Chieu port, considered a major maritime gateway for Vietnam.

MSC group president Diego Aponte expressed the investment interest at a Thursday meeting in Switzerland with Vietnam’s Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC).

He said MSC’s other investment targets included the seaport and logistics network, a five-star cruise line, and a domestic waterway network in Vietnam.

MSC is currently seeking investment opportunities in seaports and logistics centers in southern Vietnam and collaborating with Vietnamese businesses to optimize the supply chain and reduce transportation costs, he specified.

CMSC vice chairman Nguyen Ngoc Canh welcomed MSC’s interest, saying Lien Chieu is a key national project that would be a gateway connecting Vietnam’s central region to the world. MSC’s participation in the project can help Vietnam develop its seaport network into a modern, smart and green facility, he said.

MSC is among several foreign businesses that have expressed investment interest in the $2 billion Lien Chieu seaport.

A document sent by Danang in February to the Ministry of Planning and Investment seeking the Prime Minister’s approval of the seaport project mentioned that Japan’s Sumitomo was interested in building it.

In July, Indian conglomerate Adani said it was looking to invest in several mega projects in central Vietnam, including Lien Chieu seaport. Group chairman Gautam Adani revealed the investment interest at a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during the latter’s three-day state visit to India.

In September, Copenhagen-headquartered A.P. Moller Holding expressed its interest in constructing large-scale deep-water container ports and strategic logistics projects in Vietnam. Robert Maersk Uggla, chairman of A.P. Moller Holding and chairman of Maersk - the conglomerate’s shipping arm, said this at a meeting with PM Chinh.

MSC is also known as a potential investor in the $5.5 billion Can Gio mega port in Ho Chi Minh City. Under the HCMC government’s initial plan submitted to the prime minister in March, construction of transport and technical infrastructure for the project would be funded by state budget capital, public-private partnership (PPP) investment capital, and other sources.

The total length of the main pier will be about seven kilometers and that for barges is about two kilometers. The super port is estimated to span 571 hectares, including 469.5 ha for piers, warehouses, internal roads, offices, housing for management staff, and technical infrastructure, and 101.5 ha of water serving the port’s operations.

MSC also aims to invest in a new large-scale transshipment port in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.