Seaports are also designed for specialized purposes, divided into 3 types:

– National general ports.

– Local ports (with attractive scope and functions serving mainly within that locality).

– Specialized ports (directly serving concentrated industrial establishments, goods passing through the port have specific characteristics such as crude oil, coal, ore).

According to the Vietnam Seaport Association, the growth rate of goods and especially container goods transported by sea is growing at an extremely high rate, over 20%/year in the period 2001-2008. However, the distribution of goods transported through the port system is uneven, mainly concentrated in the areas of Hai Phong, Quang Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City. Meanwhile, ports in other areas are operating below capacity due to lack of cargo sources for loading and unloading. In addition, the speed of upgrading and building new major ports has not kept up with the growth of goods, leading to serious overloading of seaports.

In addition, Vietnam’s seaports also have some limitations and challenges such as:

– Due to historical factors, Vietnam’s major ports are all located near major cities and deep in the estuary area where they are affected by sedimentation and tides. Therefore, large tonnage ships with deep drafts cannot access these port systems to load and unload goods.

– The narrow area of ​​urban areas makes it difficult to expand the warehouse system as well as develop related infrastructure systems.

– The limited capacity of loading and unloading vehicles and warehouse systems has slowed down the speed of goods passing through the port.

– The domestic logistics distribution system is underdeveloped, poor and inefficient, contributing to increasing the total cost of freight transportation.

– There are few services related to ports and maritime transport. Vietnam currently does not have a regional transit port, which forces export goods to Western Europe and North America to transit at Singapore and Malaysia ports, increasing transportation costs by up to 20%.

2. Orientation for the development of Vietnam’s seaports

“Developing maritime transport towards modernization with increasingly high quality, reasonable costs, safety, limiting environmental pollution and saving energy; increasing the competitiveness of maritime transport to proactively integrate and expand the maritime transport market in the region and the world” – that is one of the goals of the Vietnam Maritime Transport Development Plan to 2020 and orientation to 2030 approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 1601/QD-TTg dated October 15, 2009.

The plan also clearly states the goal of Vietnam’s Marine Strategy to 2020, the maritime economy will rank second and after 2020 the maritime economy will rank first in the five areas of marine economic development; at the same time, it will contribute to strengthening the country’s security and defense.

Based on the analysis of factors affecting the success of seaports as well as the development trends of seaports in the Asia-Pacific region and Vietnam, together with the basis from the Planning for the development of Vietnam’s seaport system to 2020, with a vision to 2030, the orientations for the development of Vietnam’s maritime and seaports focus on:

– Regarding maritime transport, improving the quality of maritime transport services, meeting the needs of domestic maritime transport, increasing the market share of import and export goods transportation to 27-30%, combining the carriage of foreign goods on international transport routes.

+ The volume handled by the Vietnamese fleet is about 110-126 million tons in 2015; 215-260 million tons in 2020 and by 2030, it will increase by 1.5-2 times compared to 2020; the number of passengers will reach 5 million in 2015; 9-10 million in 2020 and by 2030, it will increase by 1.5 times compared to 2020. + Develop the Vietnamese fleet in a modern direction, focusing on developing specialized ships (container ships, bulk cargo ships, oil ships…) and large tonnage ships. In 2010, the total tonnage was 6-6.5 million DWT; in 2015, the total tonnage was 8.5-9.5 million DWT, and by 2020, it will reach 11.5-13.5 million DWT. Gradually rejuvenate the Vietnamese fleet to an average age of 12 years by 2020.

– Regarding the shipbuilding industry, by 2020, the development of our country’s shipbuilding industry will reach an advanced level in the region, building new cargo ships with a capacity of up to 300,000 DWT, passenger ships, oil and gas service ships, rescue ships, maritime security, constructions…

– Regarding the orientation of the development of the seaport system in the coming period, in addition to upgrading, in-depth investment, and maximizing the capacity and efficiency of existing ports, it is necessary to focus on building international transit ports, international gateway ports in key economic regions, a number of specialized deep-water ports for loading and unloading containers, coal, ore and oil on a large scale, with modern equipment…

International trade between Vietnam and the world has had strong developments, and this has truly become a very favorable condition for the development of Vietnam’s maritime transport industry. And in that development process, the requirement for developing maritime transport services in the direction of modernization with increasingly high quality, reasonable cost, safety, limited environmental pollution and energy saving; increasing the competitiveness of maritime transport is very necessary for the Vietnamese maritime transport industry to be able to proactively integrate and expand the maritime transport market in the region and in the world.