Green port - an important link in the logistics chain

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Water transport will reduce transportation costs and emissions. Photo: N.K.

Commitment to sustainable development

The National Strategy for Green Growth for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, has set the goal of "greening" economic sectors. In particular, "developing green logistics" including green logistics centers, green ports… is considered an important criterion in the business activities of enterprises operating and exploiting seaports.

In fact, some Vietnamese seaports have taken steps to prepare and proactively implement green ports and green logistics. As the largest and most modern seaport in Vietnam, with a scale of 160 hectares of yard, 2,040 m of wharf, advanced loading and unloading equipment and management technology ranked in the Top 20 largest and most modern container ports in the world, Tan Cang - Cat Lai port is the first port of Vietnam to achieve the title of Green Port of the APEC Port Services Network Council. Sharing the experience of "greening" seaports, a representative of Saigon Tan Cang Corporation said that the company focused on criteria such as: saving resources; port environmental quality; using clean energy at the port; waste treatment at the port; applying 4.0 technology...

To achieve the criteria, Cat Lai Port has replaced diesel lifting equipment with electric equipment, saving US$ 1.5 - 2 million in fuel costs per year. Strengthening water transport with a simultaneous capacity of 3,000 TEU, replacing about 2,000 container trucks. At the same time, applying electronic documents helps reduce the waiting time for vehicles at the port gate from 13 minutes to 6 minutes, eliminating about 30,000 - 50,000 paper documents at the port per day; planting trees along the wharf and traffic routes...

Similarly, Mr. Vo Quoc Huy, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Long An Port Joint Stock Company, said that the unit was constantly improving the efficiency of port operations, adapting to "digital transformation", "green transformation" through the use of renewable energy, saving resources, optimizing processes, minimizing waste and emissions, and applying the most advanced technology. The works at the Port were equipped with solar panels, using energy-saving LED lights, applying advanced technology (CATOS, MOST); the tractor fleet meeting Euro 5 standards for reducing emissions; cranes using 100% electricity; researching and putting into using equipment using electricity or renewable batteries, aiming to use shore power by 2030. Long An International Port was playing an important role in the global economic chain, especially in the field of logistics and supply chains, not only being an international freight forwarding point but also a center for transportation and distribution activities.

Mr. Truong Nguyen Linh, Deputy General Director of VICT Port, said that in addition to the most important goal of maintaining and continuing to strongly develop the port's business activities, VICT Port was also gradually digitalizing and upgrading the port's infrastructure/equipment according to the green port development trend. VICT Port had also successfully implemented a number of projects, such as the electronic port - ePort, it was a tool to help port businesses as well as customers perform online delivery services quickly, reduce the time for procedures, eliminate some steps in the manual/paperwork process, reduce waiting time in line to save fuel for drivers, increase the container delivery cycle for transport companies, look up the status of goods delivery online, monitor the history of goods delivery at the port…

Focus on reducing emissions

In addition to investing in modern equipment that uses electricity instead of oil, to reduce emissions and save costs, port businesses and operators have focused on developing waterway transport. According to Colonel Bui Van Quy, Deputy General Director of Saigon Tan Cang Corporation, transporting a 20-foot container from Lach Huyen deep-water port - Hai Phong to ICD Que Vo - Bac Ninh by barge with a capacity of 96 TEUs consumed about 10 liters of oil, while transporting by tractor consumed about 45 liters of oil. With an output of 30,000 TEUs in a year, the company's barge transport on waterways contributed to reducing emissions by up to 80%. Therefore, the development of waterway transport contributed to the development of green transport, thereby contributing to the development of green logistics in Vietnam. Currently, Saigon Tan Cang Corporation was expanding and promoting green transportation by increasing inland waterway transportation connecting major gateways, such as Cai Mep deep-water port (Ba Ria-Vung Tau), Hai Phong port cluster connecting with localities and industrial clusters by waterway transportation. This mode of transportation would contribute to reducing emissions into the environment...

With the goal of building a modern and smart green port model, Gemalink is applying many advanced technologies, such as a system of 8 Korean STS super shore cranes with a height of 92 m, weighing more than 1,700 tons, reaching capacity of 70 m, can lift two 20-foot containers or bulk cargo and project cargo with a load capacity of up to 85 tons at the same time; a system of 24 E-RTG cranes using 100% grid electricity, semi-automatically operated, integrating flexible control technology and smart control cabins with a DGPS system synchronously combined with modern CATOS port management software. Thanks to that, Gemalink is one of the destinations attracting shipping lines due to its green development criteria, reducing environmental impact in operations.

Although seaports have made certain preparations for development according to the green port model, experts say that greening seaports is still facing difficulties because investment in environmental protection infrastructure, prevention and response to incidents in maritime operations have limited at seaports due to the requirement for large funding sources. At the same time, Vietnam is also facing many difficulties in promoting energy saving. Businesses lack capital or cannot access credit loans for energy saving projects. Support mechanisms for businesses to invest in replacing outdated production lines with high-performance, energy-saving, and environmentally friendly production lines are still very limited. Therefore, state agencies and seaport enterprises need to coordinate closely and have a long-term development strategy to promote efficiency.