Viet Nam Port Assessment

Vietnam has a 3,200km long coastline with a total of 114 seaports, 14 of which are relatively large and named as the keys to economic development.

However, most ports are relatively small with obsolete facilities and poor supporting services.

The three largest ports of Vietnam are Saigon Port (south), Hai Phong Port (north), and Da Nang Port (central)

Compare them to some major seaports of Thailand and Malaysia (see graph 1 below). When juxtaposed with them, the three main ports of Vietnam seem diminutive in terms of maximum vessel size allowed and storage capacity in despite the roughly similar size of berth lengths (the figures are for container terminals only; for Thailand, it is 1.2m DWT for maximum vessel size and 4m TEUs storage capacity).