Freight held up at Sai Gon Port will be unloaded within the next 10 days, according to the port director on Thursday.
Le Cong Minh, director of Sai Gon Port, told Nguyen Trung Tin, deputy chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, that the port would hire more staff and unloading equipment.
Minh said the steadily increasing number of imports, mostly bulk goods, and the limited capacity of the port were the main causes of the congestion at the port.
He said bulk goods, like fertilisers and animal feed, must be unloaded with special equipment.
Bulk goods account for 80 per cent of more than 6.3 million tonnes of goods handled by Sai Gon Port in the first four months of the year, according to the port authorities.
At the meeting, Minh said the port would invest in more specialised facilities to unload bulk goods, including buying 10 new trucks to carry bulk goods from vessels to the port store house.
The port authorities on Wednesday also decided to exempt companies from the storage fees that were normally incurred while their goods were at port.
Tin ordered Sai Gon Port to strictly implement the commitment and report the result to the Ministry of Transport and the Government.
He also ordered the port authorities to improve goods handling management to avoid further congestion of goods.
Tin has also required Sai Gon Port to work with other ports in sharing the task of handling bulk cargo.
As of Thursday, there were still eight cargo vessels waiting outside the port for unloading.
