HIGHLIGHTS
- Vietnam’s fleet is primarily domestic, with some international routes in Asia and long-distance shipping.
- Vietnam has almost 300 seaports, but more than 90% of Vietnam’s imports and exports are carried out mostly by foreign fleets.
FULL ARTICLE
It is difficult for domestic fleets to compete with foreign fleets
Currently, Vietnam’s fleet is primarily domestic, with some international routes in Asia and long-distance shipping. According to the Ministry of Transport, the number of Vietnamese fleets has been increasing in recent years.
Specifically, the number of maritime fleets ranged between 1,000 and over 1,200 vessels between 2016 and 2020. The number of ships has declined by approximately 200 vessels during 2016. (equivalent to a decrease of 17.2 percent ). Vietnam’s transport fleet has shrunk by more than 400 ships between 2010 and 2015. However, there is one encouraging sign: the total capacity and tonnage of the transport fleet increased by more than 6%.
Other factors that make it difficult for domestic shipping fleets to compete with foreign shipping units include Vietnamese ships with small tonnages transporting dry and bulk cargo, missing container ships, large-scale fleets, and large-tonnage vessels running on long-haul international routes. Furthermore, the low production of exploitation makes it difficult for the Vietnamese talent team to stay up with international maritime trends.
The Vietnamese-flagged fleet (includes a dedicated shipping fleet and a fleet of various vessels/vehicles) had 1,502 boats as of December 2021, with a total capacity of roughly 7.145 million GT and a total tonnage of about 11.7 million DWT. Specialized shipping vessels have 1,032 vessels with a total capacity of around 6.3 million GT and approximately 10.6 million DWT, primarily in small and medium ship sizes (5,000 GT or less) (from over 5,000 GT to 10,000 GT).
Vietnam needs establish an international ship fleet
Vietnam has almost 300 seaports, but more than 90% of Vietnam’s imports and exports are carried out mostly by foreign fleets, particularly marine routes as far away as industrialized countries such as Europe and the United States. For Vietnam’s maritime industry, this is a worrying development.
To ensure import and export initiative and safety, it is critical to invest in the development of Vietnam’s fleet to transport imports and exports. Vietnam, in particular, is a country with a long coastline on the South China Sea, which serves as a commerce bridge and a gateway for many significant global maritime routes. As a result, the maritime sector has a direct impact on the country’s socioeconomic development.
The size of Vietnam’s fleet is now rated third in the ASEAN area, and it is ranked 28th in the globe. Various Vietnamese companies are currently investing in large-tonnage specialized vessels such as crude oil tankers up to 320,000 DWT and many specialized bulk cargo ships exceeding 100,000 DWT. This is the foundation for Vietnamese ships to aggressively reach out to the rest of the world, gradually integrate, and catch up with the global trend with large-tonnage vessels to reduce transportation costs. It is time for Vietnam to build an international fleet in order to fully realize its potential in the maritime business.
Huyen Tu
Hoa Phat purchased two 90,000 – ton vessels to transport bulk cargo
