“Reason” of increasing price in the sea port services

Price frame is not reasonable

According to the Vietnam Maritime Administration, there are 45 seaports (263 wharves, 18 anchorages, transshipments) with nearly 89 km of wharf, and a total design capacity of 543.7 million tons per year. 216 public and private enterprises are involved in mining. However, only a number of ports have been built with high investment of modern equipment (Cai Mep - Thi Vai port, Lach Huyen Hai Phong port, Hai Phong port, Cat Lai port). Most of the ports operated by private enterprises are small scale, with low investment capital, and quality of service is not high.

Explaining this reason, a representatives of Vietnam Maritime Administration said that the service cost at each port was not similar, the price frame for some services built from 2013-2014 was no longer appropriate. In particular, the price frame of container loading and unloading and passenger service charge for passenger ships was very low at Vietnamese seaports compared to the region. Specifically, the price of container loading and unloading services was only about US$ 30/20 feet container once handled in the port area of Hai Phong, about US$ 45/20 feet container once handled in Danang; about US$ 41/20 feet container once handled in Ho Chi Minh City; while, it was US$ 65/20ft container once handled in Cambodia; US$ 52/20ft container once handled in Malaysia, and up to US$ 130/20ft container once handled in Hong Kong (China)…

The unreasonable service prices will make it difficult for the seaport enterprises to invest in upgrading their loading and unloading technology, which will lead to longer storage times in the port, and increased costs to transportation enterprises.

In addition, in the field of passenger transportation for sea tourism, although we wanted to develop tourism in accordance with the tourism strategy of the Government and localities, Vietnam's seaports were mainly used to pick up the cargo ships and only a few ports could combine with picking up the passenger ships. At the previous price (from US$ 0.9 to 1.1 / time), the quality of sanitation, safety and security services would not be ensured. Therefore, it would be impossible to continue investing in equipment and infrastructure to receive the international cruise ships into Vietnamese seaports.

Increasing investment opportunities

Highly agreeing with the suggestion of increasing the price of seaport service from 10% -30% by the Ministry of Transport, the enterprises said that the price increase was appropriate to the market, a balance between the revenue of shipping companies and the port enterprises.

Mr. Nhu Dinh Thien, General Secretary of Vietnam Shipping Agents and Brokers Association, said that the ship owners increased their charges from US$ 80 to US$ 120 per 20-feet container for the goods owners, but payment of only US$30-40 for the ports was unreasonable. The foreign shipping companies benefit from lower port charges, so, it would be necessary to increase fees to add revenue and profit for the ports and increase the state budget and upgrade and reinvest the ports effectively.

With the same opinion, Mr. Le Huy Hiep, Chairman of the Vietnam Logistics Association, said that the connection of the infrastructure system was not good, so the logistics cost was high and unreasonable, while the inland waterway port should be promoted to reduce road congestion. The port services should be increased to facilitate enterprises. The adjustment of service price frame at seaports would assist the seaport enterprises in obtaining additional resources for reinvestment in infrastructure development, technology modernization, and connection expansion.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, Deputy General Director of Saigon Port, said that the unit agreed with increasing the seaport service price, but it should have a roadmap for increasing instead of the current option. In addition, the current poor infrastructure conditions were affecting the enterprise. For example, Soai Rap channel has very fast sediment accumulation and was not dredged, which affected the investment of enterprises. In addition, the traffic jams are very stressful, affecting the operation of enterprises. The transportation cost for enterprises is about 1 to 1.5 million dong / truck per day, and when facing delays with traffic jams they would lose about 700,000 dong. Therefore, if the State accelerated the implementation of the ring roads 3 and 4, it would contribute to improving the transport infrastructure connection, and reduce the current traffic jams.

Additionally, the representatives of Hai Phong, Da Nang and Chan May ports also expressed their expectation that the price of passenger services for the passenger ships could increase by US$ 2.5 to US$ 15 under the roadmap and specifications of each port area.