Transport ministry to include Can Gio port in national plan

Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport plans to add the Can Gio transshipment port in Ho Chi Minh City to the 2021-2030 (vision until 2050) national seaport development plan.

The port, which will look to serve vessels of 24,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) or more, will be a hub for international container transport and be prioritized for investment, the ministry said.

Despite backing the move, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has advised caution, noting that the southeastern region already has two mega seaports in Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Ho Chi Minh City.

HCMC had proposed to build the $6 billion international container port in the coastal district of Can Gio last July. The new port would have a capacity three times higher than the city's Cat Lai Port, currently the country's largest.

The Can Gio project, with 7.2 kilometers of wharf, would be designed to receive ships with a tonnage of up to 250,000 DWT (equivalent to 24,000 TEUs) and feeder ships of 10,000 to 65,000 tonnage DWT. The proposed site covers about 570 hectares. The port’s design capacity is 10-15 million TEUs, of which about 80% would be international transshipment goods and the remaining 20% comprising Vietnam’s import-export goods

Then in October 2022, HCMC Chairman Phan Van Mai emphasized the importance of the project to the Politburo, the premier decision-making body of Vietnam’s Communist Party. He said that the ambitious project would help enhance the competitive advantages of the southeastern region in particular and Vietnam in general, attracting large FDI inflows. This would also complement the Cai Mep-Thi Vai seaport cluster in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province nearby, he added.

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 but were still overloaded in 2022, the VIMC has said.

The corporation has also said that the Can Gio project will attract goods transported from Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and the southern region of China. Once completed, it can contribute VND34-40 trillion ($1.45-1.7 billion) to the state budget annually.

Can Gio is the only coastal district in HCMC. The city has proposed other mega projects for the district, including the 6,000 MW Can Gio offshore wind power project and a plan to develop the district into a seaside eco-tourism town by 2030.