Can Gio transshipment port will be an international trade gateway

Can Gio int’l container transhipment port project: a boost for HCM City’s port system

Mr. Bui Hoa An, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport.

Recently, the Department of Transport of Ho Chi Minh City submitted a report to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City on a project to study the construction of Can Gio's international transit port. Could you please share the conditions for the establishment of an international transshipment port in Can Gio?

Can Gio international transshipment port is on the list of projects and action programs of the Government to implement Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW dated October 7, 2022, of the Politburo, chaired by the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City and submit it to the Prime Minister in 2023.

To prepare the project, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport's working group collected comments from relevant departments, branches, and units, organized a field study, and exchanged experiences on other international transshipment ports.

According to the project, the proposed location of Can Gio international transshipment port is located at the mouth of Cai Mep - Thi Vai River, in Ganh Rai Bay, near international shipping routes passing through the East Sea, between areas with potential for major growth in Asia (China and India), favorable for the development of international transshipment ports. At the same time, the port in the southern dynamic economic region is the most dynamic economic region of Vietnam, so it has many advantages to attract goods through the port and international transshipment.

Currently, goods in countries in the region such as Cambodia, Thailand, Brunei, South China, and the Philippines are mainly transshipped to Singapore or Malaysia. In case goods from the above-mentioned countries are transshipped in Can Gio, the transportation distance is reduced by about 30% - 70% compared to the distance transported to Singapore. In addition, the cost of loading and unloading containers in Cai Mep - Can Gio area is now reduced by about 54% for import and export containers, and about 40% for international transshipment containers compared to Singapore. The proposed location of Can Gio international transshipment port has many competitive advantages, attracting international goods from countries in the region such as Cambodia, Thailand, Brunei, South China, and the Philippines.

In the past time, the volume of goods through the seaport of Ho Chi Minh City has grown on average in the period 2015 - 2022 by about 9.3%; It is forecasted that in the period of 2022-2030, the total volume of goods through Ho Chi Minh City's seaports will grow by an average of over 5.0%/year, the average volume of container cargo will grow by about 6.0%/year. Container terminals in the seaport area of Ho Chi Minh City (located deep in the city center) have been fully invested in basic construction according to the planning; the exploitation capacity in 2022 has exceeded the planning.

Therefore, the addition of planning and development of Can Gio international transshipment port in the period of 2021-2030 is very necessary to support the city's seaport system, creating a competitive advantage with other countries in the region creates a breakthrough in marine economic development for the southern key economic region and the whole country. The preliminary forecast of cargo volume through Can Gio international transshipment port by 2030 is Teu 4.8 million, and by 2047 is Teu 16.9 million.

What are the benefits of the international "superport" of Can Gio, sir?

The Can Gio international transshipment port project has the goal of soon turning the Cai Mep estuary into an international transshipment gateway, joining the world transport supply chain, at the same time, It promotes the role of the gateway, becoming an international transshipment port and the nucleus of promoting the development of the Saigon Gateway International Transshipment Port into a leading seaport and logistics center in the country, serving export and import services and transshipment.

The construction project of Can Gio international transshipment port has an estimated total investment of nearly USD 5.4 billion. Regarding the roadmap, the preparation for investment in the international transshipment port will be implemented from 2023-2024. From 2024-2026, the port will be built and put into operation from 2027 and completed in 2045.

According to the project, after being formed, Can Gio international transshipment port will attract a large amount of investment capital from businesses. In addition, it also creates jobs for about 6,000-8,000 employees, port workers, and tens of thousands of workers serving logistics services, logistics centers...

When the port comes into operation and reaches its designed capacity, it will initially contribute directly to the state budget through taxes from loading and unloading activities of port enterprises; Corporate income tax; fees and charges for navigation from ships entering and leaving ports; water surface rent and import-export tax are about VND 34,000 to 40,000 billion/year (complete investment phase). Create an environment to attract major transport, logistics, trade, finance, banking, and insurance companies in the world to set up their business headquarters in the region, contributing to promoting the formation of the International Financial and Economic Center in Ho Chi Minh City.

In addition, the development of Can Gio international transshipment port creates favorable conditions for domestic shipping enterprises to develop due to the need to form transport routes to collect and distribute goods from the transshipment port, which plays an important role, stimulating the development and innovation of enterprises as well as logistics activities, contributing to socio-economic development; attract foreign enterprises who want to expand their business activities and access new markets, attract FDI in industrial parks in the whole Southeast region...

There is an opinion that now that there is Cai Mep - Thi Vai port cluster in Ba Ria - Vung Tau, the construction of Can Gio international transshipment port will be unnecessary, and will compete with Cai Mep - Thi Vai port area. How do you rate this statement?

The function of the transshipment port is to distribute goods by shipping lines, so Can Gio transshipment port and Cai Mep port cluster are completely operated by different shipping lines. This is to increase the source of goods to our region, not to be called competitive. Can Gio international transshipment port will attract international transshipment goods, competing with major ports in the region such as Singapore, Malaysia, and international ports.