Vietnam’s new port opens for business

The deep-water port, which can handle 14,000-TEU ships, will allow cargo to avoid transshipment in Singapore and Hong Kong.    Lach Huyen Port in northern Vietnam officially opened for business Sunday with the launching of the Haiphong International Container Terminal (HICT).
   The deep-water port will allow cargo to avoid transshipment in Singapore or Hong Kong, the port’s website said.
   HICT, which has a berth depth of 16 meters (and a channel access/turning basin depth of 14 meters), is the first terminal in northern Vietnam that can handle calls from 14,000-TEU containerships, according to Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL).
   The terminal is equipped with two berths and can handle around 1.1 million TEUs per year. As a private business entity, HICT rents space to operate the container terminal.
   MOL had entered into a joint venture agreement with Saigon Newport Co., Wan Hai and the Itochu Group to construct and operate HICT. Saigon New Port Co. holds a 51 percent stake, followed by MOL at 17.5 percent, Wan Hai at 16.5 percent and Itochu at 15 percent.
   HICT will serve as a main gateway not only for cargo to and from major north-south trade lanes but also for streams plying east-west trade, such as to the Middle-East Europe and the Americas, according to Wan Hai.
   “The Lach Huyen Port construction project is the first public-private partnership between the government of Japan and Vietnam,” MOL said. “Backed by Yen Loan from Japan, the Vietnamese government has been constructing various infrastructure projects such as reclamation, levee protection, a groin and breakwater, causeway and access road between the port and Cat Hai Island.”