29% growth
Continuously in the first days of the new year, import-export activities of goods continued to take place vibrantly at seaports in Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City and Cai Mep - Thi Vai areas.
On February 13 alone (the second day of Tet), Tan Cang - Cat Lai (Ho Chi Minh City) received 18 ships with a dismantling output of 6,966 containers (equivalent to 10,876 teus), and a manufacturing output of 5,000 containers (equivalent to 10,368 teus).
Hai Phong International Seaport also works through Tet and is expected to receive nearly 30 ships during the Lunar New Year with main items being steel, equipment and containers.
At Tan Vu Port Branch alone, the expected amount of Roro goods (for self-operated goods) on ships during Tet can reach nearly 3,700 cars.
In fact, according to information from the Ministry of Transport, despite being affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, the output of goods through Vietnam's seaports has still achieved a very strong growth rate in recent times.
In January 2021 alone, the output of goods through seaports reached more than 62 million tons, an increase of 17% over the same period in 2020. Of which, container goods were 2.2 million teus, an increase of 27% over the same period in 2020 (export goods were 734,000 teus, an increase of 22%; imported goods were 679,000 teus, an increase of 23%).
Statistics show that the volume of goods passing through seaports grew the most, especially the Hai Phong seaport area (up 26%), Ho Chi Minh City (up 27%) and Cai Mep - Thi Vai area (up 29%).
A great opportunity for shipping
According to the Ministry of Transport, in recent times, Vietnam's import-export market has still achieved an impressive growth rate, especially the market to Europe and America due to the high demand for import-export goods from Europe and America for the Asian market (including Vietnam) in recent months.
The effective EVFTA Agreement contributes to promoting trade in imported and exported goods between Vietnam and Europe.
Notably, the increasingly improved infrastructure of Vietnam's seaports and connecting transportation is an important factor for the development of the maritime industry.
In January 2021, the Vietnamese seaport system was completed synchronously and modernly with deep-water ports put into operation, capable of receiving the world's largest container ships (over more than 200,000 DWT), oil ships with a load capacity of up to 320,000 DWT, receiving 3 mother ships in charge of goods at the same time.
The operation of the deep-water port will promptly supplement the container port infrastructure to serve the demand through import and export goods from Vietnam and the region that has grown rapidly in recent years.
In addition, to meet the increasing demand for freight transport in recent times, the Vietnam Maritime Administration has also directed Maritime Port Authorities to coordinate with state management agencies at seaports to speed up procedures for ships to enter and exit the port quickly.
However, Vietnam's shipping has recently faced some difficulties such as lack of empty containers for packaging and high container transportation fares.
According to the Ministry of Transport, the reason for the above situation is that China's economy has recovered rapidly after the pandemic, so the demand for import and export of goods has increased sharply, causing the demand for empty containers to package export goods to increase dramatically.
Port congestion is serious in many major seaports in Europe and the US and the blockade to prevent epidemics by other countries also makes it impossible for a large number of containers to move or move very slowly, causing shipping lines to lack empty containers to supply to owners.
The shortage of container shells during the peak season (New Year and Lunar New Year) is also a factor that leads to a sudden increase in demand.
