Industry winter, does the port of this country even rise in price unexpectedly?

According to The Vietnam News of August 6: In a recent online conference to discuss how to solve the plight of ports and shipping companies, the Vietnam Maritime Authority proposed that container handling fees should be raised at ports to approach regional levels, thus increasing investors' willingness to invest in ports.

Statistics show that the cost of container handling at Vietnam's seaport is much lower than that of other countries in the region.Vietnam currently charges about $33 to $53 for a 20-foot container, and $57 to $98 for a 40-foot container, said Rutin Seong, deputy secretary general of the Vietnam Association of Shipping Agents and Brokers.That compares with $59 for a 20-foot container in Thailand, $91 for a 40-foot container, $111 for Singapore and $159 for Cambodia, $65 and $95 respectively.

Ruan Xiangying, general manager of haiphong Port, said it was difficult for ports to reinvest money and improve service quality because handling fees were so low.He thinks it is necessary to raise container handling charges until they are enough to attract investors to the harbour.Starting in 2021, he proposed a 10 per cent increase in container handling charges, followed by a 10 per cent increase every two years.Mr Ruting thinks fees should be raised by 10% in 2021 and another 10% in 2022-23.

Nguyen Van Kong, deputy minister of Transport, said the increase was necessary because of the huge gap with other countries in the region.He believes container handling charges need to rise to 60-70 per cent of the regional average by 2025, and then gradually approach regional levels, or at least match Cambodia's.He stressed that the increase was limited to the maximum price, which meant shipowners could negotiate a price.Nguyen also asked the Vietnam Maritime Authority to set up a reasonable fee structure to ensure that companies have the funds to reinvest and upgrade infrastructure.He said the Ministry of Transport was committed to completing the revised draft notice No. 54/2018 / TT-BGTVT on harbour fees and submitting it to the Government for publication by 1 January 2021.

However, officials from the Price Management Department of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam believe that in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, increasing port charges should be carefully considered to reduce the impact on business operations, imports and exports, and consumer price index.

More than 339 million tons of cargo passed through Vietnam's ports in the first half of this year, up 7 percent from a year earlier, according to statistics from Vietnam's Maritime Authority.The capacity of Vietnam's seaport system has increased from 73 million tons in 2000 to 650 million to 700 million tons today.