A view of Chu Lai Port in the central province of Quang Nam (Photo: VNA) Quang Nam (VNA) - Quang Nam province has put intooperation Chu Lai Port as a key logistics hub for the central and Central Highlandsregion after a one-year upgrade and expansion.
The project carried out by Truong Hai Auto Corporation (THACO)included the expansion of the berth upstream, the expansion and upgrading ofthe warehouse system and the completion of infrastructure, said Tran HuuHoang, Director of THACO Logistics Co., Ltd and Director of Chu Lai Port.
The project cost 120 billion VND (5.2 million USD), raising thelevel of investment to build the Chu Lai Port from 2010 to the present tonearly 800 billion VND, he said.
“The port hosted 150 cargo ships with a total 600,000 tonnes ofcargo including 23,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in the first sixmonths this year,” said Hoang.
Extended by 171 metres upstream, the Chu Lai berth measures nearly500 metres, with a depth alongside berth of -9.5 metres capable of receivingthree vessels of 20,000 tonnes at the same time. These include general cargoships and liquid cargo ships. Before the upgrade the berth could only receivetwo 20,000-tonne vessels.
The warehouse and workshop system has been expanded from 71,040square metres (2016) to 91,200, including bonded warehouses (57,600 squaremetres), warehouses (13,440 square metres), unpackaged cargo inspectionworkshops (20,160 square metres), among which the unpackaged cargo inspectionworkshop is an entirely new facility put into operation in early 2017.
The Chu Lai Port is divided into three separate functional areasfor different types of cargo, including containers, bulk and liquid cargo tomeet the needs of ships arriving to load, unload and deliver freight.
The Chu Lai Port also invested in loading and unloading equipment,such as Liebherr cranes, tire cranes, container reach stackers, Folk Lift withmodern and complete loading and unloading equipment, with tugboats and morethan 20 high-capacity tractors to ensure optimum port performance.
Besides serving the transportation of finished products,materials, spare parts for automotive production and assembly and supportingindustries of THACO in Chu Lai, the port also provides a variety of usefulservices for external businesses and customers, including ship towing andrescue services; cargo loading, unloading, tallying, and warehousing; domesticinland shipping, freight forwarding and shipping agents; bridge and berthservices, and related shipping services.
Hoang said that among the total volume of cargothrough the port, 15 percent belong to more than 50 external enterprises,consisting mainly of food, agricultural products, plastic pieces, tires,paints, chemicals, batteries and consumer goods.
In addition to domestic shipping routes, theport has launched direct sea routes to Incheon Port in the Republic of Korea(RoK), and Fangcheng Port in China, and planned to open new routes to otherports in China, the RoK and Japan. It also plans to provide further logisticsservice for foreign direct investment (FDI) businesses in the Chu Lai OpenEconomic Zone.
According to Hoang, in order to build the ChuLai Port into a logistics hub of the key economic region, the Chu Lai Port hasproposed that Quang Nam province support the dredging of the channel to a depthof -10.7 metres to accommodate 30,000-tonne vessels by 2019, and further to adepth of -12 metres to accommodate 40,000-tonne vessels after 2020.
The Chu Lai Port was built in 2010 and put into operation in May2012. It is the second biggest port in Quang Nam province after Ky Ha Port andwas designed with a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of bulk cargo and 150,000TEUs per year.-VNA
VNA
