Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs: Contributing to promoting the economic potential of seaports

of the "super ship" SPECTRUM OF THE SEAS of Cyprus nationality brought nearly 4,500 international tourists arrived at Vung Tau international port at February 20, 2024

From the ships arriving at the port

Ba Ria-Vung Tau has a national and international deep-water seaport system. Notably, Vietnam's Cai Mep port holds the 12th position in the rank of global seaports, higher than some large seaports such as Singapore (18th), Yokohama - Japan (15th), and Busan - South Korea (22nd)...

Besides, Ba Ria-Vung Tau is a province located in the Southeast region which is the economic center of the country and is one of the localities with great potential for developing famous and attractive tourism, with many historic monuments. Because of those favorable factors, right from the beginning of the year, the tourist season at Ba Ria - Vung Tau port has flourished, bustling with luxury passenger ships and yachts of large international shipping lines.

According to statistics at Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs Department, as of February 29, the unit has completed procedures for 42 five-star standard passenger ships to enter the country and transfer to Vung Tau port with more than 92,293 passengers that were mainly American, Australian, British, and French nationalities. The most noticeable thing is that the number of international passengers registered for entry and exit has increased by more than 85,466 turns and the number of passenger ships increased by 700% over the same period in 2023.

Notably, on February 20, the presence of the "super ship" SPECTRUM OF THE SEAS of Cyprus nationality brought nearly 4,500 international tourists with nationalities: American, Australian, British, Russian, Swiss, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and many countries around the world enter Vung Tau port, showing that the economic potential of seaport tourism of Ba Ria - Vung Tau is increasingly being affirmed on the world map.

Not only in export and import activities, import and export goods through the port, the number of ships exporting and transferring ports also recorded positive signs. Specifically, as of February 29, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Customs Department received and processed procedures for 1,215 vehicles registered for export and import, an increase of 30% over the same period in 2023 with the amount of imports and exports up to 9,716,683 tons.

Recently, import-export activities at Vung Tau port recorded many super container ships and cargo ships docking at the port. Among them, the OOCL SPAIN ship of Hong Kong nationality (China) has docked at Vung Tau port on a journey expected to last 84 days for a transport cycle.

OOCL SPAIN is the world's largest super container ship specializing in the Asia - Europe LL3 route, stopping at ports such as Shanghai - Xiamen - Nansha - Hong Kong - Yantian - Cai Mep - Singapore - Piraeus - Hamburg - Rotterdam - Zeebrugge – Valencia – Piraeus – Abu Dhabi – Singapore...

Sharing about the shipping plan, Mr. James Chou, a representative of OOCL SPAIN shipping company, said that within the next 5 years, the company would receive about 28 more superships similar to OOCL SPAIN. The company also launched a long-term development plan for growth and smart development of the company in the Vietnam and international markets.

One thing that is expected besides large-scale container ships, every day Vung Tau port still welcomes and processes procedures for many ships transporting a volume of goods from 70 to 80,000 tons regularly in and out of the port.

Actively improve management capacity

The bustle of import and export activities through Vung Tau seaports brings with it confidence in the growth rate of trade and tourism, contributing to promoting the country's economy. It is forecasted that cargo traffic will grow rapidly soon. To meet the growth of import-export activities in the area, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs Department has proactively developed plans and prepared implementation solutions to bring the best results.

Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang, Director of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs Department, said that the unit always focuses on developing human resources to meet job position requirements. At the same time, actively and proactively implement administrative procedure reform effectively; innovate and apply many measures to ensure the modernization of customs lines, operations, inspection, control and supervision to meet requirements in the process of building a digital customs model. smart.

First of all, accompanying businesses, shipping lines, and customs declarants, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs Department aims to facilitate trade based on ensuring transparency and facilitating import-export activities. In particular, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs will promote dialogue, exchange, and listening and promptly solve problems arising from associations, businesses and customs declarants during the process of implementing procedures regarding legal policies in the customs field. In addition, during the management process, the unit will also research and propose solutions aiming to reduce the time and cost of implementing administrative procedures in the customs field for the business community.

With the attention to investing and installing modern equipment to support the inspection, control and supervision of import and export goods of General Department of Vietnam Customs, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs Department will maximize its advantages and efficiency in the operation of information technology systems and technology equipment. Notably, effective operation of container scanning machines in the Cai Mep - Thi Vai area, helped to reduce time for conducting a physical inspection of goods, saving costs and time for both businesses and Customs.

With the efforts of the unit along with the improvement in import-export activities right from the beginning of the year, Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang expected, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs would be one of the units with many prospects to complete assigned political tasks, contributing to the overall achievements of the entire industry.