Time to shift the Van Phong port project to high gear
The fable of the arrogant beauty
Van Phong Bay has been compared to a beautiful girl who was so conceited that many boys lost interest in winning
Portcoast Consulting Co. Director Pham Anh Tuan recalls that 10 years ago, when the idea of building up an international container port at Van Phong Bay first came up, a lot of foreign investors showed interest, and came seeking opportunities.
“Most of the foreign investors in Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port [near Vung Tau] once surveyed Van Phong,” Tuan said. “However, the Van Phong Port project has gone too slowly. It wasn’t until 2006 that the Ministry of Transport approved a detailed plan for its development. By then, investors had run out of patience and gone elsewhere.”
Former Khanh Hoa People’s Committee Chairman Pham Van Chi agreed that many investors came to survey Van Phong, but did not return. “Things only began to move a little in 2004. The province thought the time was right and established Van Phong Bay Development JSC in 2005. However, soon afterward, things broke down.”
Tuan says any project that’s in the planning stage for almost two decades is naturally going to miss a lot of business opportunities. “Portcoast was ready to start development in 2003, aiming to operate the port in 2005.”
At a meeting on development of Cam Ranh and Van Phong Bays back in April 2003, participants were pleased to hear [then] Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s instruction to focus on putting two wharves into operation by early 2005.
“That was a time when many big shipping companies were searching for ports to add to their itineraries,” Tuan explained. “If we’d been operational then, we would have been able to attract many shipping lines to Van Phong. But they have gone on to invest in building logistics system in other places.”
Doan Manh Dung, Secretary General of the HCM City Sea Science Association, related that in 1998, a US group came to survey Van Phong. The group expressed its willingness to invest in the area to the Ministry of Transport. “Our policy on inviting foreign investment was not clear,” said Dung. “Therefore, the investor left.”
Chu Quang Thu, former Acting Head of the Maritime Bureau, related that the big shipping firm Maersk Sealand spent money to survey Van Phong. It met the Government to talk about the investment. Then, like many other investors, it left.
Timing is key
The Van Phong Economic Zone Management Board believes a lot of foreign investors are still eyeing Van Phong. Declining to disclose names of investors, Board Chairman Nguyen Trong Hoa said that four very big investors are seeking opportunities there. “They are from the US and Russia, and capable of bringing huge capital here,” Hoa said.
Meanwhile, Duong Chi Dung, General Director of Vinalines, confirmed that the state company has signed a cooperation agreement with the big Danish shipping firm, Maersk, on investment in the port, logistics and maritime transport. It has also signed cooperation agreements with SSA Marine (US) and big Asian shipping companies like MYK, K-Lines and MOL.
Sumitomo, the big Japanese group, ‘chased’ the project for a long time but never got ‘the nod.’ Asked why Sumitomo has not now become an investor of the project, Dung said their interests have diverged. Whereas Vietnam now aims to develop a facility specialized in transshipment of goods, Sumitomo is focused on financial investment and industrial zone development. It has no particular interest in port development and transshipping, though it is still interested in comprehensive development of the entire bay area.
Dung said that because Sumitomo is not keen on port development, it will be invited to participate in development of a Van Phong economic zone, industrial park or free trade zone.
Powerful leadership needed
Dung from Vinalines, replying to criticism that things have gone too slowly, said that the ‘tardiness was necessary and active’, because this is first time Vietnam has aimed to build a transshipment port, i.e., a facility where cargos are consolidated onto big vessels or offloaded onto smaller vessels that serve smaller ports. However, experts are warning that the Van Phong project will require powerful leadership.
“We think that a Van Phong project steering committee needs to be established as a unit of the central government and given enough power to get the job done,” Chi said.
Thu, the former Maritime Bureau head, suggested that the ‘conductor’ of the project should be a deputy prime minister.
