Ba Ria – Vung Tau Customs: Facilitate to attract goods to Cai Mep – Thi Vai port complex

Overview of the seminar. Photo: Châu Long

Goods import and export growth

Located in Phu My Town, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province, the Cai Mep - Thi Vai deep-water port complex serves as a gateway for maritime trade of goods in the Southern and South Central regions of Vietnam. It is equipped to provide international standard container port services to customers. Currently, the volume of containers passing through the ports in the Cai Mep - Thi Vai area is enormous, with over 80% of containers being transported to destination ports in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, and Binh Duong. Transshipment cargo is primarily transported by sea to Cambodia via border gates in An Giang and Dong Thap, with a small amount of transshipment cargo transported by road through border gates in Tay Ninh.

According to Nguyen Thanh Sang, Cai Mep area has an advantage for transshipping goods as the world's largest shipping lines and alliances currently operate mother vessels at various ports with 33 services per week. Additionally, the Cai Mep area has domestic routes connecting goods in the Northern region (Hai Phong) and the Central region (Da Nang, Quy Nhon).

Furthermore, container terminals in the Cai Mep area are located adjacent to each other, sometimes separated only by a fence, and share a single transport route (Road 965) under the management of the same Cai Mep Port Customs Branch.

With these advantages, businesses (shipping lines, logistics companies, port operators) have a strong demand for connecting and transporting goods between terminals in the Cai Mep container port complex to minimize logistics costs by loading multiple containers onto the same mother vessel or domestic feeder vessel for transportation to their destination.

According to the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs Department, the volume of containers handled through the ports in the Cai Mep - Thi Vai complex has continuously grown from 2.57 million TEUs in 2017 to 7.11 million TEUs in 2023. In the coming time, the volume of containers through ports here is expected to continue growing.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Sang, Deputy Director of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs Department. Photo: Châu Long

Promoting Goods Movement

In recent years, the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs Department has made significant efforts in administrative reform, ensuring transparency, proactiveness in leadership and management, applying information technology in administrative procedure reform, and modernizing customs procedures. This has helped to achieve the dual goal of facilitating smooth import and export activities while ensuring inspection and supervision at ports in the Cai Mep port complex.

A notable example is the operation of the VASSCM. The Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs Department has deployed an information technology system to connect, exchange, and update information with warehouse, yard, and port operators regarding goods loaded and unloaded at the port, serving the purpose of inspection, supervision, and control of goods.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Sang, the operation of VASSCM has helped warehouse, yard, and port operators to effectively monitor goods entering and leaving the port. The exchange of information between customs and ports has also been quick and easy. This has shortened the time and procedures for confirming goods entering and leaving the customs surveillance area, creating a favorable and transparent environment for import and export enterprises.

In addition, the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs Department has proactively established information exchange groups between customs agencies and port operators. This has helped customs agencies and port enterprises to interact directly, ensuring that emerging issues related to customs supervision are promptly informed and handled 24/7, reducing a significant amount of time and effort for port enterprises while achieving high efficiency in the management and supervision of customs agencies.

Furthermore, many modern equipment for customs surveillance have been equipped at Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs, including container scanners, baggage scanners, electronic seal positioning systems, and megaport systems. The use of modern equipment has helped to make inspection and supervision more accurate and rigorous while still ensuring that time and manpower are reduced for both customs agencies and the business community.

Currently, the Customs Department and relevant ministries are developing a Circular "Regulations on customs supervision of goods transported under customs supervision between ports in the Cai Mep container port complex." According to the leadership of the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs Department, when the Circular is issued, it will support enterprises in reducing time and costs while ensuring the management and supervision of goods by customs agencies, promoting the circulation of goods in the Cai Mep area and creating conditions for Cai Mep - Thi Vai port to become a gateway and international transshipment hub as required in Resolution 24-NQ/TW dated October 7, 2022 of the Politburo.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Sang affirmed that in the coming time, the unit will continue to strengthen the application of information technology systems and use modern inspection and surveillance equipment in a synchronous and unified manner to meet the requirements for accurate, convenient, and quick management.

At the same time, it will continue to effectively implement customs procedures on the National Single Window Portal and ASEAN Single Window Portal, connecting with Vietnam's trading partners... aiming to focus on maximizing the processing of administrative procedures, connecting and sharing information between customs agencies and relevant ministries and agencies participating in the supply chain. The Customs agency will also conduct surveys to install technical equipment and information technology infrastructure to serve surveillance work at the Go Gia transshipment area