According to a report by Vietnam National Shipping Lines (VIMC), the forecast for the maritime transport market, including bulk carriers, in 2024 will not have many positive changes.
Seaport market forecast to face many difficulties this year
The container shipping market in 2024 is also expected to continue to face many difficulties. The decline in cargo supply due to rising inflation as well as the slowing global economic growth rate directly affects the purchasing power of major markets such as the Americas and Europe.
Container freight rates have been volatile and declining for much of 2023 and show no signs of stabilizing. With low growth in demand, rapid growth in new shipbuilding, and reduced congestion, the market will have an oversupply of ships.
Not only the shipping market, the seaport and maritime services sector is also forecast to face many uncertainties and geopolitical tensions between countries.
Shipping lines have had to drastically cut operating costs (Cosco has cut operating costs by 37% compared to 2022). In the context of a difficult general market, private ports have implemented many policies to reduce prices and increase discounts to attract customers, making competition in seaport services increasingly fierce.
Speaking at the VIMC Summary Conference on the morning of January 4, Mr. Nguyen Canh Tinh, General Director of VIMC, said that there are a series of difficulties this year. In addition to the continued tension and escalation of conflicts in many regions, the disruption of the global supply chain, the supply of ships will continue to grow strongly and the number of ships being dismantled will be low...
VIMC's fleet is mostly old (average age of ships is 20 years old), has poor technical features, is not synchronized, and the fleet size is increasingly shrinking due to the restructuring process. In addition, due to difficulties in investment procedures, for many years, VIMC's enterprises have not been able to invest in developing their fleet.
Notably, according to VIMC leaders, the seaport sector is under increasingly fierce pressure from the private sector as well as the emergence of many new ports in all areas that have advantages over VIMC's port location. The warehouse location is not favorable, far from the port exploitation center, the policy mechanism for customers is still inflexible, and there is no longer a competitive advantage.
In 2024, VIMC will continue to focus on investing in berths 3 and 4 at Lach Huyen port; investing in Da Nang port, researching the policy of building Lien Chieu port...
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Canh, Vice Chairman of the State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises, noted that VIMC needs to boldly seize the right time to decide to implement investment in an international shipping fleet to optimize the State's investment capital.
In 2024, VIMC sets a production and business plan with a maritime transport output of 15.8 million tons (reaching 76% of the estimated implementation in 2023, due to liquidation and reduction in the number of ships); seaport output of 123.7 million tons (reaching 109% of the estimated implementation in 2023); revenue of VND 17,742 billion (reaching 99% compared to the implementation in 2023) and profit of VND 2,169 billion (reaching 104%, higher than in 2023 due to liquidation of old ships with full depreciation).
Source link
Comment (0)