Despite its advantage of a deep-water seaport, Dung Quat port has not yet fully exploited its potential, due to limited and unsynchronized budget investment resources, failing to meet development needs and attract investment.
Not meeting the needs of import and export of goods
Dung Quat Port is a national class I seaport, with an area of over 1,000 hectares, a depth of 21 m and no dependence on tides, which is a great advantage for receiving and transporting goods. However, the volume of goods imported and exported through Dung Quat Port is not much.
Speaking to reporters from Dau Tu Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Phong, Director of the Department of Transport of Quang Ngai province, said that the logistics system has only been able to handle some basic steps and has not yet taken on the role of a center for receiving, preserving and distributing goods. On the other hand, the infrastructure of maritime routes is still limited, the shipping channels are narrow, and the depth is limited, while the tonnage of ships going to/from the port is getting larger.
“Almost all ports have a situation where the shipping channel standards are not suitable for the required scale of the wharf, so they are not attractive to cargo owners and ship owners, greatly limiting the capacity of the port system,” Mr. Phong shared.
According to the adjusted planning until 2020, with a vision to 2030, Dung Quat port has 14 main ports included in the planning for investment and construction, with the goal of becoming a large-scale and modern seaport. However, after many years of investment, to date, only 8 ports have been put into operation, the remaining 6 ports in the planning are still "on paper".
According to the reporter of Dau Tu Newspaper, in addition to the group of ports that are operating vigorously such as the port of the Petroleum Services Joint Stock Company, the general container port of Hoa Phat Dung Quat, the port of Gemadept International Port Joint Stock Company, the port of Hao Hung Quang Ngai One Member Co., Ltd., etc., the remaining parts of some planned ports are still deserted, many places have not yet cleared the land.
The leader of a port investment enterprise in Dung Quat shared that the objective reason is that there are not many import and export container goods in Quang Ngai province, so shipping lines cannot open domestic and international container transit routes. Therefore, to load and unload goods, enterprises in Quang Ngai have to use seaports outside the province, increasing transportation costs.
“Quang Ngai seaports in general and Dung Quat seaports in particular have not been invested to keep up with the demand for import and export of goods for businesses in the province, which will be a major obstacle to the development of Dung Quat Economic Zone and industrial parks in the province,” Mr. Nguyen Phong frankly acknowledged.
Need worthy investment
Sharing with Dau Tu Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Trinh, representative of Hoa Phat General Port Joint Stock Company, said that Dung Quat seaport lacks capacity, the current status of the wharves here cannot meet the cargo tonnage.
“Dung Quat Port needs to invest in more wharves, expand wharves 4 and 5, and open the way for container ships to receive goods. Along with that, we must invest in warehouses and upgrade traffic infrastructure further to create development opportunities,” Mr. Trinh expressed his opinion.
In addition, Mr. Trinh informed that Hoa Phat General Port Joint Stock Company is carrying out procedures to adjust the planning of wharf No. 8 and it is expected that by 2026, this wharf can be put into operation, contributing to improving the freight transport needs of businesses.
Mr. Nguyen Phong pointed out that the reason why Dung Quat port has not yet fully exploited its potential is because investment resources from the budget are still limited, not synchronized, and have not met the needs of development and investment attraction. According to him, currently, Quang Ngai's connecting infrastructure basically ensures traffic, but for the logistics industry to develop, it is necessary to invest and remove important bottlenecks.
Specifically, it is necessary to soon complete the Tri Binh - Dung Quat intersection under the Da Nang - Quang Ngai Expressway Project, invest in National Highway 24 connecting from Kon Tum to Dung Quat port, expand National Highway 24C connecting National Highway 1, soon invest in the CT22 expressway from Dung Quat port to Bo Y border gate and Nam Giang international border gate...
“If we invest in such infrastructure, more goods will be concentrated at Dung Quat port and Dung Quat seaport will be fully exploited, gradually becoming a regional freight transport center. To develop logistics, we must meet the fastest and cheapest freight transport requirements, so it is necessary for the State and businesses to invest and remove the above bottlenecks,” said Mr. Phong.
In addition to allocating about 100 hectares for warehouses, Mr. Phong said that Quang Ngai is focusing on building logistics in Dung Quat. However, due to changes in the law, the selection of investors and site compensation has been prolonged, leading to slow implementation of the warehouse areas.
At a recent working session with Quang Ngai province, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Anh, Chairman of the State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises, requested that Quang Ngai needs to allocate resources to develop a complete and synchronous infrastructure; increase investment in logistics development, including fully exploiting the advantages of Dung Quat deep-water port and Chu Lai airport to build this place into a logistics center of the whole region.
Source: https://baodautu.vn/cang-dung-quat-chua-phat-huy-het-tiem-nang-d228759.html
Comment (0)