On October 15, Royal Caribbean Group (RCG) sent a document to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and relevant agencies regarding the receipt of international cruise ships in the Cai Mep - Thi Vai area (Ho Chi Minh City). Currently, this group is experiencing an interruption in operations in Vietnam.
According to the announcement from port partners under Tan Cang Saigon Corporation (Saigon Newport), ports in Phu My ward, Ho Chi Minh City will stop receiving passenger ships from October 2025, including: Tan Cang - Cai Mep Joint Stock Company, Tan Cang - Cai Mep International Port Company Limited and Tan Cang - Cai Mep Thi Vai Port Company Limited.
The group said that the suspension of receiving ships is related to procedures for adding the function of receiving tourist ships at Cai Mep - Thi Vai port cluster as required by the Vietnam Maritime and Waterway Administration.
This sudden cancellation of the route will prevent the ovation of the Seas ship carrying more than 4,000 passengers from arriving at Tan Cang - Cai Mep Port as planned, causing great damage to passengers and the group.
If this problem is not resolved, ports in the Ho Chi Minh City area cannot receive large international passenger ships, forcing the group to remove Ho Chi Minh City from the list of destinations in the program of activities in Asia.
Saigontourist Travel Service Company also sent a document to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism to support the proposal to unify the policy for container ports and general ports in the Cai Mep - Thi Vai area to be piloted to receive international passenger ships to ensure travel activities.
According to regulations, container ports and general ports need to add the function of receiving passenger ships to the Law on Declaration of Seaport Operations. However, completing this legal document takes time, while the schedule of international passenger ships has been finalized for a long time and cannot be changed. The delay in procedures is directly affecting the schedules of planned trains.
From now until the end of April 2026, this enterprise plans to have about 15 international passenger ships with about 40,000 customers waiting to be received.
According to this enterprise, if not resolved in time, international shipping lines will be forced to cancel their trips in series, causing serious damage to Ho Chi Minh City's tourism revenue, breaking the signed contracts of the unit and affecting the reputation and image of national tourism in the eyes of international partners.
Previously, the Department of Maritime and Waterways (Ministry of Construction) issued a document responding to SP-PSA International Port Company Limited regarding the proposal to receive passenger ships entering and leaving SP-PSA International Port (formerly Ba Ria - Vung Tau).
SP-PSA International Port is located in Thi Vai wharf area of the former Ba Ria - Vung Tau seaport, approved for operation scale according to Decision No. 880/QD-CHHVN dated September 3, 2009, serving general cargo ships and containers with a capacity of up to 80,000 DWT.
Based on the development planning for Vietnam's seaport system in the period of 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, Thi Vai wharf area is oriented to include cargo, container, loading and unloading ports, liquid/ air cargo, without the function of welcoming international tourists.
The Vietnam Maritime and Waterway Administration said that there was not enough basis to consider and approve the proposal of SP-PSA International Port Company Limited on the exploitation and receipt of passenger ships entering and leaving this port.
