Vietnam boasts three seaports in Top 50 largest container seaports worldwide

The port of HCM City. In the Lloyd's 2023 list, the port of HCM City secures the 23rd position. (Photo: saigonport.vn)

Vietnam boasts three seaports listed among the Top 50 largest container ports globally, namely Ho Chi Minh City Port, Hai Phong Port and Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port.

In the Lloyd's 2023 list, which ranked ports by the volume of container traffic represented in million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), the port of HCM City secured the 23rd position, slipping one spot from the previous year’s list. With 106 routes in Asia, one to America and two to Europe, the 160-year port handled over 7.9 million TEU in 2022, down 0.6% year-on-year.

The Hai Phong Port also dropped one place to the 31st position, handling over 5.6 million TEU in 2022. As Vietnam’s second largest container hub, it facilitates 69 routes within Asia, two to America and one to Europe.

Maintaining its 32nd position, the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province managed the throughput of nearly 5.6 million TEU. It services nine Asian routes, 21 to America and five to Europe.

Vietnam leads the ASEAN region with three ports in the Lloyd’s list, followed by Malaysia with two ports, while the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore each have one.

Most of Vietnam’s international trade relies on sea transport. The country’s seaport system is now capable of accommodating the world’s largest tonnage vessels, drawing in 40 major global shipping lines.

In 2023, Vietnam’s freight transport reached more than 2.3 billion tonnes, up by 15.4% year-on-year, with goods turnover hitting 490 billion tonnes, up 10.8%.

For the first two months of 2024, freight transport was estimated to increase by 13.9% to 416 million tonnes, with goods turnover rising by 14% to 88 billion tonnes compared to the same period in 2023. Notably, waterway and maritime freight transport have shown impressive growth rates of 21% and 18.1%, respectively.

As of 2023, Vietnam's sea fleet comprised 1,447 vessels, including 1,015 cargo ships, totalling approximately 10.7 million DWT. The country ranks 3rd in ASEAN and 27th globally, with an average vessel age of 15.5 years. Vietnamese enterprises own foreign-flagged vessels with a total tonnage of 2.5 million DWT.

According to the Ministry of Transport, Vietnam's sea fleet has seen rapid growth in recent years, handling 100% of domestic cargo volume and 6-8% of the export-import cargo market share./.