Ba Ria – Vung Tau Customs: Contributing to promoting the economic potential of seaports

The consecutive arrivals of container “super ships” in the first two months of 2024 have affirmed the potential, advantages and important role of the Cai Mep – Thi Vai deep-water port cluster, Ba Ria – Vung Tau on the Asia – Europe shipping routes. In order to create maximum conditions for the import and export of goods, the import and export of vehicles and passengers, the Ba Ria – Vung Tau Customs Department has been making efforts to reform procedures, modernize the operational chain, and customs inspection and supervision.

From the ships arriving at the port

Ba Ria – Vung Tau is blessed with a deep-water seaport system of national and international stature, notably Vietnam’s Cai Mep port is ranked 12th, higher than some major seaports such as Singapore (18th), Yokohama – Japan (15th), Busan – Korea (22nd) …

Besides, Ba Ria – Vung Tau is a locality located in the Southeast region, the economic center of the country, one of the localities with great potential for famous and attractive tourism development, many historical relics of national significance.

With these favorable factors, right from the beginning of the year, the tourist season of Ba Ria – Vung Tau port has flourished, bustling with luxury passenger ships and yachts of large international shipping lines “opening the land”.

According to statistics at the Ba Ria – Vung Tau Customs Department, as of February 29, the unit has completed procedures for 42 five-star passenger ships entering and transferring to Vung Tau port with more than 92,293 passengers of mainly American, Australian, British and French nationalities. The most noticeable thing is that the number of international visitors registering for XNC has increased by more than 85,466 and the number of passenger ships has increased by 700% compared to the same period in 2023.

Notably, on February 20, the presence of the “super ship” SPECTRUM OF THE SEAS of Cypriot nationality for the first time brought nearly 4,500 international tourists of the following nationalities: the US, Australia, British, Russian, Swiss, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and many countries around the world to enter Vung Tau port, showing that the economic potential of seaport tourism of Ba Ria – Vung Tau is increasingly being affirmed on the world map.

Not only in the import-export activities, the import-export goods through the port, the number of ships entering and leaving the port also recorded positive signals. Specifically, as of February 29, the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Customs Department received and processed procedures for 1,215 vehicles registered for import-export, an increase of 30% compared to the same period in 2023 with the volume of import-export goods reaching 9,716,683 tons.

Recently, the import-export activities at Vung Tau port have recorded many super container ships and cargo ships docking at the port. Among them, the OOCL SPAIN ship of Hong Kong (China) nationality on a journey expected to last 84 days for a transportation cycle has docked at Vung Tau port.

OOCL SPAIN is the world’s largest super container ship specializing in the Asia – Europe LL3 route, stopping at ports such as: Shanghai – Xiamen – Nansha – Hong Kong – Yantian – Cai Mep – Singapore – Piraeus – Hamburg – Rotterdam – Zeebrugge – Valencia – Piraeus – Abu Dhabi – Singapore…

Sharing about the transportation plan, Mr. James Chou, representative of OOCL SPAIN shipping line, said that in the next 5 years, the company will receive about 28 more super ships similar to OOCL SPAIN. The company also proposed a long-term development plan for growth and smart development of the company in the Vietnamese and international markets.

An expectation in addition to large-scale container ships, Vung Tau port still welcomes and processes procedures for many ships every day, transporting cargo volume from 70 to 80,000 tons regularly entering and leaving the port.

Actively improve management capacity

The bustling import-export and transit activities through Vung Tau seaports bring confidence in the growth rate of trade and tourism, contributing to promoting the country’s economy. It is forecasted that the volume of goods will grow rapidly in the coming time. In order to meet the growth of import-export activities through the area, Ba Ria – Vung Tau Customs Department has proactively developed plans and prepared solutions to bring about the best results.

Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang, Director of Ba Ria – Vung Tau Customs Department, said that the unit always focuses on developing human resources to meet the requirements of job positions. At the same time, actively and proactively implement administrative procedure reform effectively; innovate and apply many measures to ensure the modernization of the chain, operations, inspection, control, and customs supervision to meet the requirements in the process of building a digital Customs and Smart Customs model.

First of all, accompanying enterprises, shipping lines, and customs declarants, Ba Ria – Vung Tau Customs Department aims to facilitate trade on the basis of ensuring transparency and creating maximum conditions for import and export activities. In particular, Ba Ria – Vung Tau Customs will promote dialogue, exchange, listen and promptly resolve on-site problems arising from associations, enterprises, and customs declarants in the process of carrying out procedures on legal policies related to the customs sector. In addition, during the management process, the unit will also research and propose solutions aimed at reducing the time and cost of implementing administrative procedures in the customs sector for the business community.

With the attention to investment and equipping modern equipment to support the inspection, control and supervision of import and export goods of the General Department of Customs, Ba Ria – Vung Tau Customs Department will maximize the advantages and efficiency in the operation of information technology systems and technological equipment. In particular, the effective operation of container scanners in the Cai Mep – Thi Vai area will help reduce the time for actual inspection of goods, saving costs and time for both enterprises and Customs.

With the efforts of the unit and the improvement in import and export activities from the beginning of the year, Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang hopes that Ba Ria – Vung Tau Customs will be one of the units with many prospects to successfully complete the assigned political tasks, contributing to the overall achievements of the whole industry.

Source: Haiquanonline