By Nari Nguyen.    Photo：Mladen

  The concept of international container transshipment comes from the container shipping activities of shipping lines. This is the place where goods from other places come and go. Shipping lines play a decisive role in establishing which location to act as a transshipment port, as they will decide in the voyage around the world where to call for transshipment.

     Asia accounts for more than 50% of total world cargo traffic on routes and about 65% of total imports to the US. According to statistics of the American Business Association, the volume of goods exported to the US through Vietnam's seaport system ranks second in Asia, after China. With the advantages of geographical location, natural resources, supply of goods, fuel, services,... Nearly 50% of international transshipment activities are carried out in East Asia. The world's major ocean carriers choose this area to place their transshipment and distribution locations.

The maritime countries in East Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia (Tanjung Pelepas port), Thailand (Laem Chabang), China (Ningbo, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hong Kong, etc.) ...), Korea (Busan) has also well exploited its geographical position, serving the needs of sea container transshipment.

Potential of seaports in Vietnam

 Since the beginning of the 21st century, Vietnam has developed a number of ports with the desire to attract international transshipment goods.

There have been trials in Van Phong (Khanh Hoa) and Cai Mep (Ba Ria - Vung Tau), however those have not met expectations. Van Phong port does not have an investment by international shipping lines, nor a large enough tonnage, the project has been stopped. 

International transshipment output at Cai Mep is available, but low (less than 5%), mainly from Cambodia, transshipment output from Cambodia is about 300,000 Teus/year. Cai Mep is still just a gateway port.

An international transit terminal project in Can Gio district, Ho Chi Minh City, has been proposed to start in 2024 and have its first phase put into use in 2027. Can Gio port is also expected not to affect or compete with Thi Vai - Cai Mep area in Ba Ria - Vung Tau, but both will form a seaport system for the region.

Can Gio international transit terminal is set to have 7.2km of wharves and cover some 570ha. It will be able to handle the world’s largest container ships (24,000 twenty-foot equivalent units) at present. 

The official said that once operational, the terminal will contribute about 9 trillion VND (379.6 million USD) to the budget each year and create 7,000 jobs. Not only giving a boost to socio-economic development in Can Gio district, it is also expected to help HCM City sustain its role as a logistics centre of the region and Asia and become an international financial hub.

Advantages and disadvantages of seaports in Vietnam. 

Hai Phong is the gateway port of the northern provinces, Cat Lai is the gateway port of the southern provinces. In 2022, goods going to the US will account for nearly 30% of the market share of international import and export goods through the seaports of Lach Huyen, Hai Phong. 

Cat Lai ranked 22nd in the list. with throughput of 7.9 million Teus in 2021 and a growth rate of about 1.3% compared to 2020.

 Currently, Vietnam can only provide transshipment and transit services for Cambodian goods. Goods imported into Cambodia are brought to Cat Lai or Cai Mep ports, then transferred to barges going up the Mekong River to Phnom Penh port.

The most important and difficult factor to make a transshipment port is the source of 

goods. The transshipment port cannot rely on local sources of goods, but must attract goods from other places and other countries. 

It is the shipping lines who show their roles. The world has many shipping lines, but only about a dozen large container shipping lines have a decisive role in regulating the source of goods. Large carriers transport a huge amount of containers day and night, so even though they are not the owners of the goods, the fact that these carriers call their ships at any port will make that port "warm" right away.

Therefore, if one or several shipping lines commit to bring the goods back, a new transshipment port can be formed and exist.Our domestic capital is still limited, so it is necessary to have an appropriate strategy to be able to mobilize foreign investment capital. 

A successful experience in attracting foreign capital to invest in seaports can be referenced in the case of the Malay port of Tan-jung Pe-la-pas. The alliance between that country's MMC group and Maersk's APMT company with a capacity of 2.5 million TEUs transshipment per year by giving this company the right to own up to 35% of the port, attaching rights and obligations their port business