MSC explores port and logistics investment opportunities in Can Tho

On the afternoon of January 24, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Can Tho City Party Committee, Mr. Duong Tan Hien, Standing Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee, and leaders of relevant departments and agencies had a meeting with leaders of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), Medlog and Thanh Binh Phu My Joint Stock Company on investment cooperation opportunities to develop ports and logistics centers in Can Tho City.

At the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu highly appreciated the operational capabilities of MSC and expected the parties to discuss together to grasp each other's needs so that MSC could invest in Can Tho. The Party Secretary also introduced to representatives of MSC, Medlog and Thanh Binh Phu My brief information on Can Tho City master plan and port and logistics planning. According to Secretary Nguyen Van Hieu, Can Tho had a great advantage because the Hau River, one of the branches of Mekong River passed through the city. Currently, the ports located along the river include Cai Cui Port and Thot Not Port, but the scale of operation was quite small, and transport activities were mainly by barges and small ships. With the central location of the Mekong Delta, if traveling by road, the provinces in the region all pass through Can Tho, so choosing to build a large-scale transshipment port here is a strategy suitable for the development of the Mekong Delta.

According to Can Tho City planning recently approved by the Prime Minister, the location to build the port is in Thot Not District with a scale of 155 hectares. This is a convenient location, with easy access to road and waterway transportation, near O Mon Thermal Power Center and Tra Noc, O Mon, Vinh Thanh Industrial Parks. This area has three main functions: seaport, logistics center and warehouse. Therefore, investors can choose to synchronously implement an area of 155 hectares to facilitate site clearance, resettlement, and have a clean land fund for project construction.

Mr. Benoit de Quilacq, Managing Director of MSC Vietnam, said that MSC Shipping Group is a private Swiss enterprise founded in 1970. Currently, the company is the largest shipping group in the world with 180,000 employees, 675 offices in 155 countries. The two main business areas of MSC Group are passenger and cargo transportation by sea. MSC also has many subsidiaries doing business in different fields such as deep-water port construction, warehousing, air transport, port and logistics services. In the field of cargo transportation, MSC is the world's leading corporation in transportation capacity with a fleet of up to 760 ships, with capacity of 22.5 million TEUs per year. In the last three years, MSC's fleet has grown by about 10% each year.

Members of MSC, Medlog and Thanh Binh Phu My agreed that the port planning area with an area of 155 hectares introduced by Can Tho city leaders was suitable for the company's development strategy, and it could be connected to the ports MSC currently owns as well as other deep-water ports in Vietnam.

After the meeting, the delegation was guided on a site visit to the proposed venue for the port.