The local shipping industry in Vietnam is asking the state government to continue keeping foreign carriers off the country’s waters.
This as the Vietnam Maritime Bureau (Vinamarine) has reportedly asked the Ministry of Transport not to resume licensing of foreign firms to provide container transportation service on domestic routes in order to protect its fleet.
The increase in the number of vessels and the unchanged volume of goods were the reasons Vinamarine cited for the request, according to a report by VietNamNet Bridge.
Vietnam banned foreign firms in early 2013 without indicating when the ban would be lifted.
The information that a foreign shipping firm has reportedly sent word that it wants to come back to the Vietnamese domestic market has caused concern among local carriers.
Nearly 100 percent of goods on domestic routes are handled by the domestic fleet, said the report.
Vinamarine’s head Nguyen Nhat said the ban has helped develop the Vietnamese shipping industry and increase the number of its fleet. Nhat added that container vessels on domestic routes rose from 19 in 2013 to 30 this year.
If Vietnam continues restricting foreign firms on domestic routes, Nhat said the fleet restructuring would go faster. Container vessels in Vietnam currently account for only 3.5 percent of the total tonnage, much lower than the world’s average of 14 percent.
According to Vinamarine’s deputy head Bui Thien Thu, four foreign firms are still allowed to collect goods and distribute imports and exports for their mother vessels.
Maersk Vietnam Company, for example, has one mother vessel at the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port, it said. Two of its ships are allowed to carry empty containers and imports and exports to the port and on the Hai Phong-Da Nang-Quy Nhon-Vung Tau-Ho Chi Minh City routes.
Photo: HoangTuanAnh
