Vietnam Maritime Administration (VinaMarine) has consulted the ministry of transport regarding the project. About $1.5 billion will be needed to add more vessels to the fleet in the first phase of the project running until 2026.

To reduce dependence on foreign-owned vessels, Vietnam’s maritime sector is working on upgrading its international merchant fleet. A lack of its own container ships and large tonnage ships on international routes, experts say, is limiting competitiveness. A project on developing Vietnam’s international merchant fleet between 2022 and 2030 is being planned.

Deputy minister of transport Nguyen Xuan Sang said the development of an international merchant fleet under the project requires efforts from relevant state agencies, firms and associations.

Also important is to raise the quality of crew members and adopt incentives designated to support seafarers.

While containers imported and exported to and from Vietnam are mainly handled by foreign shipping lines, especially on long-distance sea routes to developed countries, Vietnam’s domestic fleet mainly operates on domestic and short international routes in Asia, VinaMarine deputy director general Hoang Hong Giang told a news agency.  

The country has 10 container shipping companies owning 48 container vessels capable of carrying 39,520 TEUs and only 17 of them are able to sail on Asian waters.

Its merchant fleet ranks third among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and 28th in the world. A Vietnamese firm has invested in a 320,000-DWT oil tanker and over-1,000-DWT bunkers. The move paves the way for the domestic fleet to move step by step in line with the global trend and optimise shipping costs.

Along with an average annual growth of 12 per cent of export-import turnover in the 2016-21, the cargo throughput of the country’s seaports saw stable increase in the period, a VinaMarine report showed.

In the first seven months of this year, the throughput growth slowed down, but still showed a year-on-year (YoY) rise of 2 per cent, reaching about 63 million tonnes.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)