The Department of Waterways proposed a solution to remove restrictions on procedures and infrastructure to promote Vietnam – Cambodia water transport.

Potential to exploit transit goods

According to the Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration, since 2009, Vietnam and Cambodia have signed an Agreement on Water Transport (Agreement), which came into force in 2011, creating favorable conditions for water transport activities and crossings on regulated waterways.

Since the Agreement came into effect, the two countries have cleared procedures for nearly 78,000 turns of vehicles, more than 406,000 turns of crew members, nearly 20 million tons of cargo and nearly 1.3 million turns of passengers. Particularly, the average growth of container cargo is 20%/year.

Waterway transport The agreement between Vietnam and Cambodia still has a lot of potential for development and growth in transit output

According to the Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration, the potential for cargo transportation between the two countries, especially goods in transit on the Agreement route, is still very large. A recent survey shows that the demand for cargo transportation to and from Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville (Cambodia) ports, which are the two gathering and transshipment points of goods on the Agreement route, is increasing.

At Phnom Penh port, the LM17 container terminal has a capacity of 300,000 Teus/year. But in fact, in 2021, there were more than 321,000 Teus of goods in transit to seaports in Ho Chi Minh City and Cai Mep – Thi Vai.

In terms of output on the Agreement route, in 2021 it will reach nearly 350,000 Teus and more than 800,000 tons of liquid and bulk cargo; In 2022, it will reach about 400,000 Teus and about 1,000,000 tons of liquid and bulk cargo.

Regarding vehicles, on the route, there are about 80 oil tankers (tonnage up to 3,000 tons), 150 dry cargo vehicles (tonnage up to 4,600 tons), about 30 container vehicles (with a tonnage of 96-250 TEUs). work.

In which, 50% of imported goods are mainly production materials ordered by shippers from other countries from China. After that, 93% of finished products after processing in Cambodia will be exported to the US, Canada, Japan, Europe and developed countries.

According to the data of Phnom Penh port announced, in 2011 when the Agreement officially took effect, the volume of container goods transiting through Vietnam by waterway was 81,631 Teus. After 10 years, the number of goods passing through the route will reach 321,066 Teus in 2021, achieving a growth rate of nearly 400%, an average of 20% per year.

Currently, Phnom Penh port is expanding the area of ML17 port for container handling in phase 3, expected after completion, the total capacity will be 500,000 Teus/year. Next, the Cambodian Government approved phase 4 to increase the port capacity to 900,000 Teus/year.

Regarding the port of Sihanoukville (Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, abbreviated to PAS), a representative of the Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration said that from 2012 to now, the volume of cargo through the port has grown by an average of 11.29%, reaching nearly 7 million tons. Containerized cargo volume increased by 12.8% on average, reaching more than 730,000 Teus in 2021.

“From PAS goods can be shipped directly to other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, but for shipments to the United States and Europe, which account for almost 80% of the goods, transit will be required. at Singapore or the port of Laem Chabang (Thailand) or Cai Mep (Vietnam).

This is an advantage for the ports of Cai Mep – Thi Vai area of Vietnam when currently this area is a transshipment port for goods exported from PAS to the US of Cambodia,” the representative emphasized.

Create favorable mechanisms, take advantage of development opportunities

According to a representative of the Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration, there are many “roads” through countries, from which to bring imported goods to Cambodia or vice versa, export goods from Cambodia to other countries, including the Agreement transport route.

Accordingly, goods from 3rd countries (China, Japan, USA, Europe …) to Phnom Penh (Cambodia) can go along Route 1: transit through Vietnam by sea to Cai Mep – Thi Vai seaport. or Cat Lai; From here, either go by barge about 380 km by river (Agreement waterway) or 300 km by road to Phnom Penh.

Route 2: By sea to Sihanoukville seaport, then 230 km by road to Phnom Penh. Route 3: Through Laem Chabang seaport (Thailand), continue by road about 650km to Phnom Penh.

There are many transit routes for Cambodia, so it is necessary to remove restrictions immediately so that the Agreement waterway route increases its competitiveness and exploits its potential.

However, at present, most of the goods on the road connecting Cat Lai and Cai Mep – Thi Vai with Phnom Penh have been transferred to the seaports of Sihanoukville (Cambodia) or Laem Chabang (Thailand). The reason is, Ho Chi Minh City collects fees for using seaport infrastructure for goods in transit to Cambodia that are transported by road; Customs inspection and supervision for goods in transit to Cambodia.

Along with that, the Cambodian side put into use a highway connecting Phnom Penh with Sihanoukville port, shortening the travel time from 5 hours to about 2 hours, and at the same time has a policy of exemption and reduction of tolls in the first year to attract attention. vehicle. On the other hand, administrative procedures, especially inspection procedures for goods in transit in Thailand and imported and exported goods in Cambodia are increasingly improved and convenient.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, although Ho Chi Minh City has freed the use of seaport infrastructure for the Agreement route, the inspection still takes a long time. Specifically, at present, Vietnam Customs is still conducting manual inspection for most transit goods transported on the Agreement route. This monitoring measure is applied for export and import goods into Vietnam, which is not reasonable.

On the other hand, the working time of the authorities at the Vietnam border gate during office hours should not be able to release the goods quickly. Moreover, according to current regulations, VR-SI vehicles are not allowed to operate on the sea from Cua Tieu to Cai Mep – Thi Vai port, so they can only follow the channel of Cho Gao canal. But this channel flow is small, often congested.

These restrictions will greatly affect the competitiveness of the Agreement route compared to other routes, leading shippers to use other routes instead, namely Laem Chabang port of Thailand or Sihanoukville. of Cambodia instead of transiting through Cai Mep – Thi Vai and Cat Lai ports.

Therefore, to be able to exploit the potential and develop freight transport on the Agreement route, according to the representative of the Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration, it is necessary to immediately overcome these obstacles and limitations.

Regarding customs procedures, there should be separate regulations on the list of goods, inspection and supervision of goods on the Agreement route; Especially for goods in transit by containers with “still sealed – sealed”, only manual inspection is carried out when there are signs of violation of regulations. That is the new way to increase the efficiency of exploitation and cut down on time, transportation and logistics costs. At the same time, increasing the working time of agencies at the waterway border gate such as Vinh Xuong, Thuong Phuoc.

At the same time, survey and add the coastal routes of Cua Tieu – Cai Mep – Thi Vai, Cai Mep – Thi Vai – Sihanoukville to the list of waterway transport and transit routes of the Agreement.

This is to promptly take advantage of the Cai Mep – Thi Vai regional port cluster, which is a transshipment port to receive Cambodia’s exports from Sihanoukville to the US and Europe. On the other hand, it is convenient for goods from Cambodia and the Mekong Delta to go directly to Cai Mep – Thi Vai seaport, thereby reducing congestion and creating conditions for sustainable development for Cat Lai port. .

Regarding infrastructure, according to the Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration, in order to be able to exploit the transport of goods in transit on the Agreement route through Vietnam from the ML17 port area – Phnom Penh port with a demand of 900,000 Teus/year, both sides Vietnam and Cambodia need to conduct dredging of some sections of the channel that are not yet deep enough, with a length of about 7.5km.

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Source: Bao Giao thong