Traffic to be rerouted away from Vietnam’s congested Cat Lai Port

0
639

HCMCVietnam is looking at redirecting incoming cargoes to other ports as a measure to ease heavy congestion at Cat Lai Port in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

Following a recent meeting between the Ministry of Transport and Cat Lai Port operators, it was decided that container pile-up at the port could be alleviated by making ships go to alternative destinations near Cat Lai, according to a report by VietnamNet Bridge.

The under-utilized Cai Mep-Thi Vai International Port in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau is among those being eyed as one of the alternative destinations to Cat Lai.

Cat Lai Port operator Sai Gon Newport will request shippers to load containers within a certain time, and will block inbound traffic using the port for transit until the congestion subsides.

The delay in the movement of goods and the extra storage payments at Cat Lai Port have reportedly affected trade and business in the city and surrounding areas.

Cat Lai Port processes over 80 percent of goods coming from the city and neighboring provinces. The severe congestion is said to be caused by container vessels’ longer dwell times partly due to new e-customs clearance procedures and tighter government checks on trucks’ load capacities.

E-customs clearance complaints mount

In related developments, companies in Vietnam are reportedly up in arms over the newly implemented e-customs clearance system as they blame it for delays in the release of their shipments.

The VNACCS/VCIS (Vietnam Automated Cargo Clearance System/Vietnam Customs Intelligence Information System) has been the target of complaints from enterprises that claim glitches in its processing are leading to data errors that impact on cargo clearance.

The General Department of Customs has admitted that errors sometimes occur due to late updates by the new system, and said it plans to issue a document to allow enterprises to make customs declarations manually if the automated customs clearance platform is presenting problems.

Photo: kenner116