Rail freight is paralyzed.

Many businesses said that if the railway is paralyzed for a long time, they will be forced to switch to road or sea routes to ensure on-time delivery to customers.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nam, representative of Hoa Lam Transport Service Trading Company Limitedsaid that this unit had 18 containers of soft drinks, fish sauce, and instant noodles that had been loaded onto a train and were preparing to depart on March 20 to Hanoi, but were stuck at Song Than station after the incident. This morning, the company had to urgently hire a number of container trucks and proceed to unload the goods and transport them by road.

Mr. Nam said that the estimated rental fee for each container truck is from 18 to 20 million VND, so the company will have to pay over 300 million VND for 18 containers. Road travel time is shortened by one day compared to rail.

"The cost of transporting goods by road is twice as high as by rail. For now, we still have to pay to rent a vehicle, and then we will ask the railway industry for support," Mr. Nam shared.

Railway management is planning to solve the cargo congestion. Photo: MH.

A representative of Max Saigon Transportation Services Co., Ltd. said that the company also has several shipments stuck at Song Than station and waiting to be processed.

“After the collapse of Ghenh bridge, we also received a notice from the station management board and they said they would support transit businesses to Ho Nai station (Bien Hoa), so businesses are somewhat reassured. However, goods from Hanoi are more difficult to transport and transportation costs may increase,” said a representative of Max Saigon, adding that they are temporarily suspending orders from customers by rail to avoid increased costs. For orders that have been received in advance, we have also notified customers to sympathize and if the items are too urgent, they will be forced to switch to transportation by road or sea.

Having also prepared full plans to deal with incidents, a representative of ITL Company said that all of the company's shipments are being gathered at Ho Nai station waiting to be transported to the North. As for new shipments, the company is working on many different plans if the railway is paralyzed for a long time.

“This is a force majeure incident, so the company sympathizes with the railway, although we have received many transportation contracts, some of which are signed for the whole year. To ensure that the goods are delivered to customers, the company will ship the goods by sea. The cost of shipping by sea is almost equal to that of shipping by rail, so there is not much damage,” said an ITL representative.

Goods returned at Saigon Railway Station. Photo: Huu Cong.

Speaking to VnExpress, Mr. Do Dinh Duoc, Deputy General Director of Saigon Passenger Transport Joint Stock Company, said that all goods going to the Central and Northern provinces had to return to Song Than station because of the collapse of Ghenh bridge.

“A customer has completed procedures to dismantle the goods and transport them by another means. In the remaining cases, the company will contact the owner to agree on a specific handling method, and at the same time, will organize a vehicle to transfer the goods to Ho Nai station and transport them according to the customer's request. However, the specific time cannot be determined yet,” said Mr. Duoc.

He also added that from the morning to the afternoon of March 21, the station leaders and the railway industry had also completed a survey of the current situation at the train stations and were preparing to meet and discuss solutions tomorrow. Some shipments from Ho Nai station to the central and northern provinces were also being pulled onto trains to move along the route.

At Saigon station this morning (March 21), dozens of tons of goods that had been loaded onto train cars earlier were now being unloaded by railway staff for the owners to pick up. The amount of goods was about 40 tons, mostly clothes, shoes, cigarettes, electronics...Upon receipt of goods, all owners will receive a 100% refund.

According to statistics from Saigon station, on average, there are 3-4 trains with about 70 freight cars transported from the South to the North and Central regions every day with a total weight of nearly 2,000 tons.Estimated freight cost by train ranges from 1,800-2,000 VND per kg on the Saigon-Hanoi route.

According to VNE