More than 2.3 million tons of goods passed through Nghe Tinh Port
The first 6 months of the year have seen many difficulties affecting Nghe Tinh Port due to the sharing of goods and the economic recession that has not yet recovered. With many business solutions and determination, the total volume of goods passing through the port reached 2,351,557 tons, an increase of 6.18% over the same period in 2023.
Difficulty in sourcing goods
In the gloomy weather of July, Nghe Tinh Port welcomes storms and low pressure offshore, so the atmosphere of loading and unloading goods is very urgent. A ship of more than 10,000 tons from China docks at the port, waiting to load potassium, next to it are ships coming in to "take" white stone goods. At this time, in the Cua Lo and Nghi Thiet Port areas (Nghi Loc), there are 3 ports operating simultaneously, including wharf No. 6 of Cua Lo Port of Viet Nhat Company, Vissai Port and Nghe Tinh Port, so ships enter different wharfs, dispersing the amount of goods that were previously concentrated in Nghe Tinh Port. Therefore, there are fewer goods, new problems arise, requiring port leaders to focus on solving them in order to coexist.
Mr. Yen Van Phuc - Deputy Director of Cua Lo Port Unloading Enterprise said: Because Cua Lo Port can currently receive ships under 13,000 tons, ships with larger tonnage have landed at Vissai Port, causing the cargo to be shared. Barite ore cargo in the first 6 months of 2024 through Cua Lo Port only reached 100,474 tons, down 43.08% compared to the same period in 2023. The reason is that this item requires large tonnage ships from 40,000 DWT to 60,000 DWT, and these ship sizes cannot dock at Cua Lo Port due to the shallow wharf. And if they dock, they have to use barges to transfer to large ships, which costs more, so to save costs, customers have transferred barite ore cargo to Vissai Port for exploitation.
Iron ore cargo in the first 6 months of 2024 reached 385,049 tons, down 2.93% over the same period in 2023. This cargo's output decreased because customers also used large ships and switched to mining at Vissai Port...
Faced with fierce competition in output, businesses in the association discussed and agreed not to compete unfairly. In addition, Nghe Tinh Port focuses on serving customers well with a professional spirit, the advantage of machinery, vehicles, and cranes of a leading port in the region.
Mr. Bui Kieu Hung - General Director of Nghe Tinh Port said: In these difficulties, some goods passing through the port also have growth such as fertilizer, various types of stone, animal feed.
Specifically, the output of all types of fertilizers in the first 6 months of 2024 reached 659,555 tons, an increase of 75.42% over the same period in 2023. The reason is that during the period, some customers focused on importing this item to serve the domestic market in Vietnam; Potash factories in Laos increased the capacity of production lines and focused on transiting goods through Vietnam for export to China. The output of all types of stone products reached 171,088 tons, an increase of 5.44% over the same period in 2023. During the period, customers in the Taiwanese and Korean markets increased their consumption orders, contributing to the increase in the output of this item through the port.
Animal feed output in the first 6 months of the year reached 91,839 tons, up 50.19% over the same period in 2023. This item increased as Vietnam's livestock industry is making positive recovery steps after the difficulties of the past few years. Increasing the proportion of livestock in agricultural output and increasing consumer disposable income are important factors driving the domestic animal feed market.
However, with great efforts, Cua Lo Port's total revenue in the first 6 months of 2024 reached 119.6 billion VND, an increase of 10.39% over the same period and 59.81% of the 2024 plan, completing tax payments to the State and pre-tax profit reaching about 13 billion VND.
Efforts to overcome difficulties
As mentioned, in addition to competition for goods, Nghe Tinh Port also faces difficulties due to its proximity to residential areas, so port operations for some goods are affected by dust and noise. For example, iron ore, from April 2024, businesses will only focus on exporting iron ore cargo that is currently stuck at the yard and reduce the volume of goods imported to the yard.
Another difficulty that has not been completely resolved is that fishing boats crowd and occupy the entire wharf, especially on rainy, windy, stormy, and tropical depression days. This is also the time when many goods need to be quickly released to customers, but many times the wharf is occupied by fishing boats. An area planned to be a temporary shelter for fishing boats has been calculated but there is no funding to implement it. In addition, there is a residential road outside the port to serve people's travel and avoid going into the production area, which has not yet been built.
In addition, many other items also decreased in output such as: Round wood output in the first 6 months of 2024 reached 8,999 tons, down 56.31% compared to the same period in 2023; coal output in the first 6 months of 2024 reached 53,524 tons, down 37.11% compared to the same period in 2023. The reason is due to the scarcity of upstream coal sources, priority is given to thermal power plants and the demand for coal in Nghe An and Ha Tinh decreased. The decrease in items is also due to the siltation of the port channel to only -0.5 meters. In addition, it is also due to the relocation to re-plan the storage system and ensure environmental sanitation.
Mr. Bui Kieu Hung - General Director of Nghe Tinh Port Joint Stock Company added: The current solution that the port is implementing to survive and create jobs for more than 300 workers is to find more jobs outside the port, such as transporting goods, exploiting machinery and equipment capacity for neighboring services. In addition, focusing on improving productivity, product quality, and services for customers, increasing investment, improving facilities, infrastructure, equipment, and production tools. Taking customers as the center, finding new customers in industrial parks and factories, at the same time, strengthening management, reducing costs, and increasing business efficiency...
Regarding the issue of environmental pollution, in recent times, Cua Lo Port has also tried to take many measures to reduce it such as investing in new projects, upgrading internal road infrastructure, wharves, warehouses, anti-dust net systems and vacuum cleaners, water trucks... and still paying maximum attention to this issue. In addition, ensuring the health of workers in the port through regular check-ups, health insurance, vacations, emulation of initiatives, and technical improvements. Regarding other issues, Nghe Tinh Port is working hard to coordinate with the town, port authority, border guard station at Cua Lo Port... to implement them as soon as possible.
