Why did a series of water ports in Ho Chi Minh City stop operating?

Dozens of inland waterway ports have simultaneously stopped operating in the last months of the year, greatly affecting the market for materials supplied for traffic construction projects in the area.

There are many reasons, but the closure of these ports is mainly due to problems in renewal and licensing procedures...

Contractors face difficulties as water ports stop altogether

In early November, many contractors constructing traffic infrastructure projects reported to Giao Thong Newspaper that a series of inland waterway terminals in Ho Chi Minh City had stopped operating, causing material prices to increase.

The construction materials market in Ho Chi Minh City is affected by the expiration of many inland waterway ports.

This situation not only occurs in a few districts but spreads to 8 localities in Ho Chi Minh City including: Thu Duc City, District 1, District 3, District 7, Binh Thanh, Go Vap, Hoc Mon and Binh Chanh districts.

Of the 42 inland waterway terminals that ceased operations by mid-October 2024, a large proportion were construction material terminals.

This directly impacts the supply chain for contractors in the context of traffic infrastructure racing to meet construction progress.

Mr. D, deputy general director of a company constructing a key traffic project in Ho Chi Minh City, said that in just the last two weeks of October, three suppliers of sand for leveling in Thu Duc City have announced that they have stopped supplying goods to the project.

"They said the dock's operation was not extended so they could not bring the sand back to be gathered," Mr. D shared.

Records at the Xang - An Ha canal area (Binh Chanh district), about 3km downstream from Xang bridge, show that 2 barges carrying sand for filling had to anchor for 20 hours.

The wharf owner announced that he had just been fined 35 million VND for operating the wharf past its expiration date, so he did not dare let barges in.

"If the cargo owners return to the West, they will suffer heavy losses. If they anchor to find another port to buy, there is a high risk of being forced to lower prices and have debts," the captain shared.

Why stop working?

According to information from the Department of Public Works and Transport of Thu Duc City and the urban management departments of districts, there are 3 reasons leading to the situation of mass suspension of water ports.

Firstly, from late 2023 to early 2024, a series of large sand mines in the Western region will stop operating, causing construction material trading ports in Ho Chi Minh City to have their supply cut off.

Falling into a state of not exploiting anchorage for loading and unloading goods, even though the term of operation is about to expire, the port owner does not complete the procedures to renew. Some ports have even stopped operating completely due to difficulties and bankruptcy.

The second reason appears in the period from January to March 2024. At this time, Decree 06 amending and supplementing a number of articles in Decree 08 of the Government on management of inland waterway activities takes effect.

Accordingly, the authority to agree on technical specifications for the construction of inland waterway ports in the area is assigned to the district-level People's Committee, instead of the Department of Transport as before.

The lack of updating Decree 06 by inland waterway port owners has led to delays in extending operations.

The third and also important reason leading to the slow renewal of wharves is that the legal documents on land of many wharves do not meet requirements.

Need to urgently remove

Mr. Tran Thanh Phong, Head of Port and Wharf Management Department of Inland Waterways Port Authority, shared that through reviewing and compiling a list of expired inland wharves in Ho Chi Minh City, he noticed that the number of inactive wharves has increased.

The Inland Waterway Port Authority, together with the Traffic Police Department, the Waterway Management Department (Department of Transport) and the Inspectorate of the Department of Transport also reviewed the problems that led to the delay in extending the operation of inland waterway ports to advise the Department of Transport to coordinate and give comments to localities in the coming time.

A representative of the HCM City Department of Transport Inspectorate informed that the process of extending inland waterway ports has been decentralized to localities.

In the first months of implementation, although there will be some problems, it will basically help localities be more proactive in infrastructure management.

Currently, construction material ports have also been associated with specific operational purposes to serve which constructions and projects in each area. This helps promote the strength of each locality's management.

"When a construction project is completed but the construction material terminal still exists and its purpose of operation is not specified, there will be a risk of violations of land laws, especially environmental violations," he said.

Illegal wharf increased by 31%

According to the latest list of the HCM City Department of Transport, the number of inland waterway terminals that have not been announced to be operating but are currently existing in the area has reached 71.

Previously, in July 2024, the number of unlicensed wharves stopped at 54. Thus, the number of unlicensed wharves inspected increased by 31% in just 3 months.

A representative of a construction materials business in District 8 said that the fact that many inland waterway ports are slow to announce extensions of operations while the number of unlicensed ports is increasing rapidly will put the construction materials market at risk of "darkness and light". Expired ports have no goods to sell, while unlicensed ports push prices up.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/vi-dau-loat-ben-thuy-o-tphcm-ngung-hoat-dong-192241107231016756.htm