A 58,000-DWT container ship has successfully passed through the newlydredged Soai Rap waterway in HCM City, becoming the largest DWTcontainer vessel entering the waterway.

The MSC Florida, entered the Saigon Premier Container Terminal (SPCT) on June 18, is a container ship registered in Liberia.

InJune last year, the second phase of the Soai Rap dredging project wascompleted, allowing Soai Rap to receive 50,000DWT fully loaded vesselsand 70,000DWT partially loaded vessels.

With the ability toreceive large vessels, the Soai Rap waterway will help shippingcompanies reduce transport costs as it is the shortest route to HCM Cityports.

Previously, large vessels that came to HCM City from theEast Sea had to travel through Long Tau waterway, which is 20kilometres longer than travelling through Soai Rap.

The city has38 ports with a total length of nearly 13 kilometres, including largesea ports such as Tan Cang – Cat Lai, Sai Gon and SPCT that account for alarge proportion of the country's sea goods transport.

Last year, the city's ports handled a total of 109 million tonnes of goods, up 28 million tonnes against 2013.

Themunicipal People's Committee has attributed the increase to theoperation of many transport infrastructure projects such as Tan Cang –Hiep Phuoc Port and the second phase of the Soai Rap dredging project.-VNA