The Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port Complex has obtained significant investment for its expansion, however, it has still not fully maximised efficiency and capacity, causing wastage of potential and national resources.

The statement was made by Nguyen Van Trinh, chairman of Ba Ria-Vung Tau People’s Committee, at a conference held in the province on Thursday.

The event was designed to find solutions to improve the management and exploitation of this port cluster.

Trinh recommended that enterprises, functional agencies and associations highlight problems and inadequacies and contribute ideas and solutions to help the province improve the performance of the port cluster.

Nguyen Duy Minh, secretary general of the Association of Logistics Services companies in Viet Nam, raised the question as to why people tend to use HCM City’s Cat Lai Port instead of Cai Mep-Thi Vai, despite the former being frequently overloaded.

He said the reason was that the Cat Lai Port had formed an "ecosystem" that included ports, customs (procedures) and fleet transportation, which were synchronised and had optimal cost. Therefore, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province needed to build an "ecosystem" for the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port like the Cat Lai Port, besides organising conferences to introduce the port to customers in the region.

In addition, the province should also coordinate with Dong Nai Province to form depots (dry docks) along Highway 51 and have mechanisms to attract transportation companies to this port, Minh added.

Meanwhile, Ngo Minh Thuan, deputy general director of Sai Gon Newport Corporation, suggested incentives on tax and policies should be prioritised and inspection procedures for goods to be shipped directly to the United State and Europe should be simplified.

Besides this, it is necessary to install a customs scanner at the port cluster for quick inspection work and deploy the port management scheme.

Under the project “Improving management efficiency for seaports of port group No 5 and ports in Cai Mep-Thi Vai area", over the past four years, the Ministry of Transport has been actively coordinating with HCM City, Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces and other related ministries and agencies to enhance the efficiency of the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port Complex, according to Nguyen Dinh Viet, deputy director of the Viet Nam National Maritime Administration.

In recent years, total cargo and container cargo passing through the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port Cluster has increased positively. Specifically, in 2013, total cargo reached 35 million tonnes, accounting for 5 per cent of the growth rate, and in 2016, the figure increased to 62 million tonnes, achieving a growth rate of more than 30 per cent.

The conference drew the participation of the Viet Nam National Maritime Administration, the General Department of Viet Nam Customs, the Association of Logistics Services companies in Viet Nam, and goods owners and ship owners in the area of the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port Complex. — VNS