SIMIC

Quy Nhon Port is located on Vietnam Southcentral Coast. Executives from Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), which manages Quy Nhon Port, said the opening of the new route will create new developments for the central and Central Highlands regions, including Binh Dinh province, as it will help facilitate trade with Northeast Asia by cutting transport time and cost and improving the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods compared to regional rivals.

Ho Lien Nam, Head of the Sales Department at the Quy Nhon Port, said the route will help the shipment of goods to Northeast Asian markets which are major importers of Vietnamese goods, in a shorter period of time. He noted that up to 60% commodities exported from Quy Nhon are wood chips, wood pellets, and tapioca.

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However, the shipment of certain goods of high value, such as frozen fruit, has faced difficulties as there has not been direct transport routes to those markets, Nam said. Such items usually have to transit in Singapore before being delivered to Northeast Asia, which lengthens the transport time, undermines the value of the goods, and raises delivery costs. Those problems will be resolved and new operational directions for the port will be created, he said.

Some 1,400 containers with 17,000-19,000 tonnes of goods will initially be transported on the route every month. Trips will rise from one every week to two by about mid-August if demand increases.  

Quy Nhon Port handled more than 2.4m tonnes of cargo in the first quarter of 2020, up 14% year-on-year. Revenue also grew 18% year-on-year to $9.1m (VND212bn).