Less than a year ago, shallow draft meant only feeder vessels could serve Vietnam’s busy southern ports, but nothing stands still in Asia for long.
Vietnam’s terminals on the Cai Mep River south of Ho Chi Minh City have just passed another milestone – Maersk Line has announced that it will add another direct call using 10,000 TEU vessels.
When the Mathilde Maersk calls at the port of Vung Tau on may 11 it will be the first time for a post-Panamax ships of that size to call at a Vietnam port. This is a significant step forward.
With trade still sluggish, the giant container ships need as many opportunities to boost loadings as possible, and southern Vietnam is rapidly becoming a very attractive option.
Vietnam’s economy has for several years been second only to China’s in terms of growth, and the country has managed to successfully capitalise on fears that companies have too many China eggs in their manufacturing baskets.
Manufacturers may not be moving all their operations down the road but there is a growing desire to spread production around different countries.
Vietnam has always been a firm second choice to China as it has always been strong in the export of traditional ocean freight commodities, such as furniture and garments. Other exports include footwear, ceramics, toys, coffee, tea, seafood and consumer goods.
The biggest problem for Vietnam was the inability of its ports to attract direct calls from the carriers, a combination of poor port infrastructure and the lack of a suitable draft alongside and in the river approaches.
Both of these problems have now been addressed. In May last year, the Cai Mep River was dredged to allow deep-sea vessels to enter the port. Not long after, the carriers were lining up to offer direct calls to southern Vietnam, led by APL and MOL.
In the fourth quarter of 2010, APM Terminals and two local partners will open Cai Mep International Terminals (CMIT) that will be able to handle big vessels, and shipping lines MOL, Hanjin and Wan Hai, along with terminal operator Saigon Newport, will establish a joint venture company to operate another Cai Mep container terminal expected to be online in 2011.
The Maersk Line announcement of a direct call on its transpacific service was preceded by the Grand Alliance lines Hapag-Lloyd, NYK and OOCL confirming plans to add a new direct call at Cai Mep on their jointly operated South China-Japan Express.
So far most of the direct calls are on the transpacific trade but the new Maersk rotation covers ports in the Mediterranean, Asia and US West Coast. This means direct calls between Vietnam and Europe could be on the cards in the near future, further boosting the attractiveness of what is becoming a vibrant new Asian shipping hub.