Container volume has more than doubled in the first quarter of 2016 year-on-year at Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) in Vietnam, attributed to the addition of five new services since May 2015.
Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) saw its container volume surge by 130% to 277,303 TEUs in the first three months of 2016 compared to the same period a year ago, said APM Terminals.
This growth follows an 80% expansion in container traffic in 2015 to 724,768 TEUs compared to the preceding year.
CMIT, part of APM Terminals’ global terminal network, is a deep-water facility located in the Ba Ria‐Vung Tau Province, southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, that can accommodate larger deep-draft vessels of up to 15,000 TEUs in capacity.
“One of the factors that has supported the increase in new service calls has been the consistent improvement in local transportation infrastructure, which has reduced the time necessary for trucking containers from the port area through to Ho Chi Minh City to approximately 90 minutes, as opposed to three hours just two years ago,” noted CMIT managing director Robert Hambleton.
The new services now calling CMIT include the Ocean 3 Alliance of CMA CGM, China Shipping Container Lines, and the United Arab Shipping Company services, linking Vietnam with the U.S. East Coast and West Coast and with Northern Europe.
Also making calls at the port is the CKYHE Alliance, comprised of COSCO, K-Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin Shipping, and Evergreen Line, that provides services to North Europe. A new intra-Asia service has also been added by the MCC division of Maersk Line.
“We will continue to work closely with the Vietnamese Ministries of Transport, Finance and Planning and Investment to ensure dredging and other port-associated infrastructure requirements are in place, as well as with the shipping lines seeking the productivity and efficiency that we can provide, as Vietnam continues to become an increasingly important global trading partner,” said Hambleton.
Malaysian port gets new operator
In Malaysia, KMB Seaport Sdn Bhd said it has inked a concession agreement with the federal government and the Malacca Port Authority to operate the Port of Tanjung Bruas for 30 years.
In a statement, the company said it aims to transform the port into an efficient and improved facility for use by the industries in Melaka.
“KMB Seaport intends to improve the current port facilities by investing in modern equipment to enhance the operations of the Tanjung Bruas Port,” director Shahrull Allam Shah Abdul Halim was quoted by Bernama as saying in the statement.
He said the company believes the port has a huge potential to be developed into a major gateway to handle both containers and conventional cargoes as it is located along one of the world’s busiest trade routes.
“The port also has the potential to be developed as a hub for sea-air cargoes as it is only a one-and-a-half-hour drive either from Kuala Lumpur International Airport or Senai International Airport,” he added.
