Cai Mep- Thi Vai, the destination of the super vessels

Cai Mep- Thi Vai (CM-TV) port system is more and more modern to be confident in welcoming "super vessels" with the capacity of over 200 thousand tons, opening service routes connecting Ba Ria-Vung Tau with other countries in the world.

Goods are transported faster and more easily from Cai Mep- Thi Vai (CM-TV)

Recently, CM-TV has continuously conquered milestones to welcome super vessels. Started in October 2020 when CM-TV welcomed Margrethe Maersk, the largest vessel in the world with the weight of 214,121 tons, the capacity of over 18,300 TEU, the length of nearly 400 meters, and 59 meters in width, docked at Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT). Since then, more and more super vessels have been arriving at CM-TV.

Singapore Express with the length of 400 meters, load of 23,660 TEU and weight of 225 thousand tons docked at Gemalink

Since the beginning of 2024, the Port Authority has coordinated and cooperated with relevant agencies to successfully receive 32 super vessels to dock and leave the pork, like for instance OOCL Spain, OOCL Piraeus, OOCL Turkiye, OOCL Felixstowe, OOCL Zeebrugge, ONE Integrity, HMM Le Havre, Hanoi Express, Singapore Express, and others. All of them have the length of 400 meters and width of 61.3 meters, representing the new and biggest vessel generation in the world, being capable of carrying up to 24,188 TEU.

This is the positive and encouraging signals for seaport activities because in the past, on average, the seaport could only receive 1-3 super vessels a year.

In addition to the super vessels, the port also deploys a number of new service lines. Like for instance, at CMIT, Zim Shipping has deployed a number of new service routes transferred from Malaysian seaport. SSIT Port also welcomed two new service routes in the last July, namely MSC TOKYO on BRITANNIA route and MSC VIGOUR III on the new intra-Asia service - SAOLA route. These are two new service routes expanding the scope of transportation activities from Vietnam and China to the United Kingdom and other countries in the Northwest continent.

CM-TV welcomed the super vessel named Margrethe Maersk- the biggest vessel in the world docked at CMIT in October 2020

Upgrading on the world port map

Vietnam Maritime Administration reports that at the present, there are around 10 foreign shipping lines operating container cargo routes from Vietnam to Europe and the United States, all of which are among the largest shipping companies in the world present at CM-TV. As of July 2024, there are 51 service routes deployed at CM-TV, including 37 international routes per week, comprising 13 intra-Asian routes, 19 routes to America, 4 routes to Europe, 1 European-American route, and 14 domestic routes. This indicates the diversity of interconnection of this port cluster with global markets, especially Asia and America regions.

It is estimated that in Quarter III of 2024, there will be 2-3 new service routes directly transported to Europe from CM-TV.

In short, CM-TV has the highest number of mainline service routes to the US and EU in the Southeast Asia and Asia, only after Malaysia and Singapore.

Container loading and unloading at TCIT port

Mr. Phan Hoang Vu, Deputy General Director of SSIT Port, believes that the weekly arrival of mainline ships at CM-TV is the significant effort of the Ministry of Transport, Vietnam Maritime Administration, and relevant authorities, along with the courage of port enterprises and the trust of the world's largest shipping lines. At the same time, it demonstrates the role of a proactive government that is always accompanying and supporting the development of businesses, as well as affirming the management and coordination capacity of various agencies and departments in the development of the maritime industry both domestically and internationally.

Indeed, Vietnam, in general and CM-TV port cluster, in particular has gained prestigious rankings on the world map. For two consecutive years from 2022 to 2023, CM-TV port cluster ranked 11th and 12th positions among the best container ports globally by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence.

In particular, according to a recent announcement from the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence, CPPI (Container Port Performance Index) for 405 global container ports, CM-TV ranks the 7th position in CPPI (based on calculations for five vessel sizes). CM-TV also ranks the 8th position in terms of cargo throughput (over 4 million TEUs approved annually).

With this achievement, CM-TV has increased 05 ranks compared to that of 2023 (ranked the 12th position) and much higher than a number of major transship ports of the world such as Yokohama of Japan (9th rank), Hong Kong (15th rank) and Singapore (17th rank).

Previously, April 2024 was the first time for CM-TV to rank the top 30 largest container ports in the world, based on throughput, as ranked by Alphaliner (the leading maritime research organization)

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Ky, General Director of CMIT, believes that CM-TV has name in the top 07 container ports with the highest operating efficiency in the world is meaningful in the context that the world maritime industry has been affected by the situation in Red Sea region, a number of major seaports have been stuck caused by vessels’ reroute caused schedule change. With these results, shipping companies and cargo owners can be assured of introducing new shipping routes and goods to Vietnam

Article and photos: THUY NHIEN