Clearing waterways, creating momentum for Hai Phong seaport development

Hai Phong waterway section of Ha Nam canal is a vital waterway playing an important role in the northern trade gateway.

Expanding Ha Nam canal into a two-way channel

At the conference to review the work of 2024 and deploy the plan for 2025 of the Vietnam Maritime Administration on the afternoon of December 25, Mr. Pham Quoc Long, Chairman of the Association of Maritime Agents, Brokers and Services, said that the Hai Phong maritime channel of the Ha Nam canal section is a vital waterway playing an important role in the gateway to trade in the North.

Mr. Pham Quoc Long, Chairman of the Association of Maritime Agents, Brokers and Services (Photo: Ta Hai).

At the end of July 2024, the project to upgrade the Ha Nam canal from the turning basin of Hai Phong international container port to Nam Dinh Vu port was completed and received a maritime notice recording the new channel depth of -8.5m, ensuring safety for large vessels up to 50,000 DWT to sail in and out of the port.

"However, this route only allows one-way traffic, while the traffic volume of ships passing through is very high. Ships entering and leaving the port have to wait an average of 3-4 hours for each time they enter and exit the area to load and unload goods, causing shipping costs and other logistics costs to increase," Mr. Long informed.

Therefore, Chairman Visaba recommended that the management agency consider speeding up the expansion of the Ha Nam canal compared to the planning, with the target of reaching 120m for the entire route and 220m (or 310m) for the downstream curve, ensuring smooth two-way traffic for large ships, contributing to reducing pressure on shipping routes, especially during times of high tide.

At the same time, Visaba proposed that the Ministry of Transport and the Vietnam Maritime Administration call for financial contributions from businesses in the industry to speed up the project's progress. This will help reduce logistics costs and be consistent with the scale and position of the Hai Phong area, worthy of being a special-class port cluster of the country.

Also proposing the need for a plan to periodically maintain and dredge the Ha Nam canal by assigning a long-term maintenance contractor, the representative of the Vietnam Shipowners Association (VSA) recommended that the management agency study and implement a plan to expand the Ha Nam canal to two directions to facilitate trade and reduce waiting and logistics costs.

According to the representative of VSA, in recent times, the Ministry of Transport has implemented many projects to invest in maritime infrastructure, enhancing the connection between maritime transport and seaports. However, compared to investment in roads, public investment capital for the maritime sector is generally still very low.

Most businesses in the industry must use their own capital to invest in and upgrade infrastructure.

Therefore, business investments are insufficient and difficult to promptly meet the needs of ensuring maritime infrastructure of the market and the country, especially when the trend of ships increasing in size is increasingly popular in entering and leaving Vietnamese seaports.

Businesses recommend strengthening maintenance and upgrading of waterways, especially important waterways.

VSA representatives proposed to increase the rate and speed of disbursement of public investment capital for key routes and projects to ensure that the routes always meet the standard depth for large ships to enter and exit, especially prioritizing important maritime projects in Hai Phong and Cai Mep - Thi Vai.

Early investment in turning basin at Lach Huyen

Besides Ha Nam canal, the turning basin in Lach Huyen area (Hai Phong) also attracts many businesses' attention.

Mr. Nguyen Phuong Nam, Deputy General Director of Saigon Newport Corporation (Photo: Ta Hai).

Mr. Nguyen Phuong Nam, Deputy General Director of Tan Cang Saigon Corporation analyzed that in the near future, the investment project of berths 3, 4, 5 and 6 at Lach Huyen seaport will enter phase 1 of operation. Meanwhile, currently, ships entering and leaving this area can only turn around at the turning basin at berths 1 and 2 (Tan Cang Hai Phong International Container Port - HICT).

"If the project to invest in the turning basin at berths 5 and 6 is not implemented soon, in the future, when the new ports come into operation, it may cause congestion in the area, affecting the operations of berths 1 and 2," Mr. Nam emphasized.

Meanwhile, Visaba Chairman Pham Quoc Long proposed that the authorities study and invest in expanding the cross-channel section through the turning basin area of ​​Lach Huyen port cluster so that the two-way channel can be maintained continuously, ensuring convenient ship arrival/departure plans at the inner river ports, and resolving local congestion on the channel.

Previously, the Ministry of Transport approved the investment policy for the project to invest in the construction of the turning basin at Lach Huyen section of the Hai Phong maritime channel.

The project will invest in building a turning basin to receive container ships with a capacity of up to 165,000 tons, reduced load, and larger ships with suitable parameters to serve ships returning to and entering Lach Huyen port area.

The total expected investment is 495.1 billion VND, invested by the State budget in the medium-term public investment plan for the period 2021 - 2025 and the period 2026 - 2030. The expected project implementation period is 2025 - 2026.

The Ministry of Transport assigned the Maritime Project Management Board to organize the implementation of the next steps to ensure compliance with the provisions of the law on construction, the law on bidding and related provisions of law, ensuring quality, progress, efficiency, avoiding loss and waste when using project investment capital.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/khoi-thong-luong-lach-tao-da-phat-trien-cang-bien-hai-phong-192241225224302184.htm