Despite private investors showing interest in investing in ports and inland waterway docks, the lack of clear incentive policies has prevented them from fully committing. There is a trend towards investing in logistics ports.

In February 2023, ICD Tan Cang Que Vo (Bac Ninh) received the first container shipment from the ONE shipping line. This is one of the positive signals before this port officially opens its dry port in the waterway port cluster – ICD in March.

Mr. Tran Van Cuong, Director of ICD Tan Cang Que Vo, said that the Tan Cang Que Vo port under Saigon Tan Cang Corporation started operating in September 2020, with a total area of ​​nearly 10 hectares, including 3 ship bridges that can accommodate 3 barges with a capacity of 160 Teus at the same time, with an estimated capacity of 6 million tons per year.”

The ICD Tan Cang Que Vo port is oriented towards becoming a logistics center, serving as the destination and clearance point for import and export goods in the Bac Ninh region and neighboring provinces.

With a port capacity of around 700,000 TEUs per year, current operational capacity is only about 30%. It is expected that container throughput will experience high growth over the next 5 years. By 2027, this figure is expected to reach about 700,000 TEUs (achieving approximately 52,000 TEUs in 2022).

“To achieve this capacity, in addition to the efforts of businesses, favorable policies and mechanisms from the government are needed. The inland waterway infrastructure planning has already been established, the issue now is to implement it soon, especially to resolve infrastructure bottlenecks, bridge and pier construction, as well as various fees and surcharges,” said Mr. Cuong.

As a private logistics service business, Mr. Le Manh Cuong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of CP Logistics and Lokaport Port Service Joint Stock Company, and also Vice Chairman of the Permanent Committee of the Hai Phong Logistics Association, stated that Lokaport has invested in 3 inland waterway ports in Hai Duong, Bac Ninh, and Ha Nam. The goal is not only to provide port services and cargo handling but also to supply logistics services ranging from multi-modal transportation, warehouses, and related procedures.

“The trend of investors today is to invest in large-scale ports that provide logistics services, which not only offer customers more convenient transportation products and competitive pricing, but also generate higher revenue and surplus value for businesses,” Mr. Cuong added.

The inland water port invested by Lokaport in Bac Ninh is facing difficulties and obstacles in effectively implementing investment and exploitation.

The enterprise has encountered many difficulties and obstacles in effectively implementing investment and exploiting the inland water port. 

Mr. Le Manh Cuong stated that accessing preferential policies has been challenging for the enterprise. Specifically, obtaining land and water surface in provinces is difficult due to regulations on embankments. In order to be granted permission to build a durable inland water port for long-term exploitation, the project site must be included in the plan for inland waterway infrastructure.

In case, the surveying enterprise finds that the location is different from the planning but more suitable and potential such as connecting traffic, depth in front of the wharf, convenient water traffic spots, they will have to report to the province, the management agencies. The concerned agencies shall appraise and submit additional planning, waiting for the Prime Minister to consider and approve. So express also takes about 2 years for these procedures.

“Currently, Lokaport is planning to invest in another port in Thai Binh but it is not in the plan. Now seeing a series of procedures and waiting like that, we don’t know if we should continue to invest or not,” said Mr. Cuong.

According to Mr. Cuong, another problem has existed for a long time, hindering the will to invest in ports. That is the northern port, mostly outside the dyke, but due to the regulations on dykes and flood drainage corridors, it is not possible to build closed warehouses.

While for port businesses, the most profitable is in the logistics and warehousing, to preserve goods and distribute. The revenue from loading and unloading at the pier is not much, only about 10,000 VND/ton; while warehouse rental service revenue is higher, about 5 times.

With the option of building a warehouse in the dyke, it will be very inconvenient because it is necessary to find a suitable land fund and location and incur costs of loading and unloading and transshipment from the port of entry. Not to mention, the route infrastructure, many locations have great limitations to transportation.

Mr. Cuong also said that in the investment process, businesses have not been able to access any specific policies related to the economy, from loan incentives to land rental prices. While depending on the size, a port investment project also needs several million USD. “Enterprises have made specific recommendations many times, but so far there have been no positive signals,” said Mr. Cuong.

Assessing the potential for investment in ports and inland waterways, Mr. Phan Hoang Phuong, Head of Urban and Rural Transport Department, Institute of Transport Strategy and Development, said that the planning of inland waterway infrastructure in the period period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, together with the Prime Minister’s decisions on the plan to implement the master plan and preferential policies for the development of inland waterway transport, will open up many invest opportunities for developers.

Leading the forecast that the demand for freight transportation by inland waterways by 2030 will reach about 715 million tons, growing at an average rate of 8.65% per year, Mr. Phuong said that inland waterway transport will be the fastest growing industry. high average growth in the coming period.

However, according to a representative of the Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration, in order for these opportunities to be realized and attract investors to invest in ports, it is necessary to remove obstacles for businesses, especially increasing capital. public investment in route infrastructure, facilitating transportation.

“Investment incentive policies need to be clearly defined for port and wharf investors and investors to approach. For example, on credit mechanisms and policies, investors who want to get preferential loans when investing in inland waterway ports and wharves must find out what legal regulations and where to access them.

Or for the locality, related to reduction or exemption according to regulations on water surface tax, land use tax, incentives for legal corridor when renting land for investment in port construction, etc., it should also be clearly stated in the regulations. specific legal documents”, said a representative of the Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration.

According to statistics of the Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration, as of June 2022, there are 308 ports nationwide, of which 200 are cargo ports, 11 passenger ports, and 97 specialized ports. In which, the national inland waterway route 271 ports, the local inland waterway route 37 ports.

Along with that, there are 5,082 licensed berths, including 3,015 national inland waterways and 2,067 local inland waterways.

Source: Bao Giao thong