According to the forecast, the cargo output of Quang Ngai seaport area will increase in the coming time, if the “bottlenecks” in infrastructure are removed.

Over the past years, the seaports of the Central region have experienced remarkable growth in cargo output, including the seaport of Quang Ngai region. As a testament to this, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the port area is always experiencing double-digit growth and it is expected that goods will increase in the coming time, if the infrastructure “bottlenecks” are lifted.

Mr. Le Van Luong, Director of Quang Ngai Maritime Port (Vietnam Maritime Administration) said that the output in the first 3 months of 2022 of the seaport of Quang Ngai area has reached over 10 million tons to meet the target. In 2022, it is expected that the total cargo through Quang Ngai seaport area will reach over 50 million tons compared to more than 44 million tons in 2021. Earlier in 2020, Quang Ngai regional seaport also had more than 34 million tons of goods through.

“The demand for loading and unloading goods and maritime transport of current enterprises is increasing, while many enterprises are about to invest in Dung Quat Economic Zone; in which phase 2 of Hoa Phat Iron and Steel Production Complex is expected to have cargo through the port of 60 million tons/year. Therefore, without urgently investing in terminals on schedule, the goods are in danger of stagnating for a short time, “Le Van Luong said.

According to the economic experts, the development speed of Dung Quat Economic Zone, the seaport here is wearing a “tight shirt”, has not been invested in accordance with the planning, causing difficulties for enterprises. Dung Quat economic zone after more than 20 years of operation, only 8 terminals have been invested and put into operation (including: 3 general and 5 specialized terminals (one Doosan terminal, two terminals of Dung Quat Refinery, the terminal of Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel Joint Stock Company and the dry dock No. 1 Dung Quat Shipyard).

Among them, the port of Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel Joint Stock Company is capable of receiving ships of up to 200,000 tons. The remaining ports such as Hao Hung – Quang Ngai port, PTSC (Quang Ngai Petroleum Service Joint Stock Company), Gemadept (Gemadept Joint Stock Company) can only receive ships of 50,000 – 70,000 tons. Therefore, the investment and expansion of terminals in Dung Quat Economic Zone is essential.

On the other hand, of the 8 ports that have been put into operation, currently Dung Quat Economic Zone has only three general ports including: PTSC (Quang Ngai Petroleum Service Joint Stock Company PTSC), Germadept, Hao Hung – Quang Ngai. These ports mainly receive ships to export wood chips (accounting for 90 – 95% of goods passing through the port).

Representatives of Hoa Phat – Dung Quat Steel Joint Stock Company said that the demand for export and import of goods for production at Hoa Phat – Dung Quat Iron and Steel Production Complex, as well as for the construction of phase 2 of the project is very large. In the face of the overload of Dung Quat Port, enterprises must spend billions of VND per year to hire more seaports outside the province to load and unload goods.

It is known that in order to minimize overloading for Dung Quat Port, Quang Ngai Provincial People’s Committee has assigned PTSC to soon invest in completing general terminals No. 4 and 5. However, the progress of investment in this port is slow, if by the end of June 30, this enterprise does not deploy, the Provincial People’s Committee will carry out bidding to select investors.

Meanwhile, terminals 6, 7, 8 and localities have assigned Hoa Phat General Port Joint Stock Company to urgently put into use. In particular, this enterprise is building Hoa Phat Dung Quat container port with a capacity of 5-6 million tons/year, a total capital of nearly VND 3,800 billion. It is expected that this container terminal will be put into operation in 2023. This will help address the need to import and export container goods in this area,

Regarding the investment in connecting roads, Quang Ngai People’s Committee is investing in a series of routes connecting vertically and horizontally in the port area.

“Thus, with the current 11 wharves that Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel Joint Stock Company is exploiting together with the 3 wharves that have been assigned by the Provincial People’s Committee, if this enterprise completes these wharves early, it will fully meet the needs of Hoa Phat Iron and Steel Production Complex phase 2,” Le Van Luong said.

Regarding the simplification of administrative procedures in the field of seaports, Mr. Le Van Luong said that, recently, the administrative reform has been implemented very strongly by the port, the approval procedures for the activities of enterprises in the port area according to the majority regulations have been deployed online. The time to complete the arrival procedure, leaving the port is about 15 minutes/record instead of 30-40 minutes as before.

Regarding the implementation of the Master Plan for the development of Vietnam’s seaport system in the period 2021-2030, the vision to 2050 has been approved by the Prime Minister in 2021 for Quang Ngai Seaport, Mr.  Le Van Luong, Director of Quang Ngai Maritime Ports, said that, under the direction of the Ministry of Transport, the Vietnam Maritime Administration is coordinating with Quang Ngai province to soon implement the above plan, thereby contributing to the development of Quang Ngai seaport in particular as well as the central region.

According to economic experts, as one of the five provinces and cities of the Central key economic region, Quang Ngai has actively cooperated with ministries, central agencies and localities in the region to develop plans, programs and projects for regional development.

Quang Ngai’s greatest strength is the concentrated industrial development built in Dung Quat Economic Zone, adjacent to National Highway 1A, North-South railway and the starting point of one of the trans-Asian routes connecting Laos, Cambodia and Thailand; adjacent to Chu Lai Airport; Dung Quat deep-water port with the capacity to receive ships up to 200,000 dwt.

In Dung Quat Economic Zone, located on the coast of Binh Son District, Quang Ngai Province, there are “head cranes” such as Dung Quat Refinery; Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel Joint Stock Company; Doosan Vina Industrial Company; GE Power Systems Co., Ltd. Most of the export products have increased; including strong products such as: raw materials wood chips and garments, cotton fiber…

Source: BNews