Work starts on PSA's first Vietnamese terminal
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| Stakeholders eagerly awaiting completion of new deep-water terminals |
SP-PSA is a joint venture between state-owned Saigon Port, Vinalines and PSA Vietnam Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore's PSA International Pte. Ltd.
Strategically located near the mouth of the Cai Mep-Thi Vai river, reports say SP-PSA is well-positioned to serve Vietnam's projected rapid increase in container throughput and become a major hub for ASEAN.
Its chairman Le Cong Minh said that many shipping lines, shippers and port stakeholders had been waiting eagerly for the completion of new deep-water container terminals in Vietnam.
“Hence SP-PSA and the chosen contractor will work harder to complete construction and put the first phase of the port into operation by 2009,” he said.
The port will be able to handle large cargo vessels and will be connected to Ho Chi Minh city and the rest of the southern Vietnamese hinterland by road and inland waterways.
Reports say that when both phases of the development project are fully operational, the port will be able to handle up to two million TEUs per year, while first phase completion will already boast a capacity of 1.1 million TEUs per year.
Vietnamese port projects have been the integral part of government initiatives to spur national economic growth.
State-owned Vinalines was recently given a go-ahead to build a $185 million port complex in central Vietnam's Khanh Hoa province.
The project will see the development of the Van Phong port in Khanh Hoa's Van Phong Economic Zone into an international port facility with two berths able to accommodate vessels able to carry up to 9,000 TEUs each.
Initial construction is scheduled to begin early next year while completion in 2010 will see the port have handling capacity of up to 700,000 tonnes of cargo shipments per year.
Meanwhile, one of the 30 key national projects under a master plan for sea ports is the Vinalines-PetroVietnam joint venture to build the $637 million Ben Dinh-Sao Mai port complex also in the southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.
Work on the complex largely focused on providing oil and gas facilities is scheduled to begin later this year.
This would be Ba Ria-Vung Tau's second major port project besides SP-PSA's Vung Tau container terminal.
Another major project in the pipeline is the estimated $1.6 billion Lach Huyen port in the northern city of Hai Phong.
Vinalines is mulling an international partnership for that project and Belgium's port of Zeebrugge is expected to undertake construction.
Construction work has also started on Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH)'s Saigon International Terminals Vietnam Limited (SITV).
SITV, a joint venture between HPH and Saigon Investment Construction & Commerce Company Limited (SICC), is also located in the industrial Cai Mep-Thi Vai districts of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.
This would be Ba Ria-Vung Tau's third major port project besides SP-PSA's terminal and the Ben Dinh-Sao Mai port complex.
SITV has been scheduled to be operational as early as 2010 with a total quay length of 730 metres and a harbour depth of 14 metres.