(News Portal – Dong Nai) - The Vietnam Maritime Administration has officially announced the opening of Berth No. 6 at Phuoc An Port, located in Phuoc An Commune, Nhon Trach District. According to the announcement, Berth No. 6 will be put into operation to accommodate Vietnamese and foreign vessels for docking, loading, unloading goods, and providing other related maritime services.
The Phuoc An Port project is expected to commence operations in mid-September 2024.
Berth No. 6 is 335 meters long and is connected to the shore by a system of approach bridges (including two approach bridges: AB3, which is 53 meters long, and AB4, which is 55.6 meters long). Berth No. 6 can accommodate container ships with a capacity of up to 60,000 DWT.
The Phuoc An Port project is the largest seaport in Dong Nai, covering nearly 800 hectares with a total investment of nearly 20 trillion VND, located in Nhon Trach District. The port area covers over 180 hectares, with a total quay length of over 3,000 meters, capable of simultaneously accommodating 10 ships with a capacity of 60,000 DWT each. The port's cargo handling capacity is approximately 6.5 million tons per year for general cargo and 2.5 million TEU per year for container cargo.
Phuoc An Port falls under the jurisdiction of the Nhon Trach Customs Branch – Dong Nai Customs. However, to manage a national Class I international seaport, the current organizational model of the Nhon Trach Customs Branch, which operates as an off-port customs branch, has revealed several inadequacies and limitations in customs management, as well as in the fight against smuggling and trade fraud.
Additionally, because it is not recognized as a "border-gate customs" unit, the Nhon Trach Customs Branch is not authorized to handle customs procedures for certain specialized goods for some businesses with factories located within its jurisdiction. This has created difficulties for the import-export activities of businesses in the area. Specifically, according to Decision No. 23/2019/QĐ-TTg dated June 27, 2019, by the Prime Minister, certain imported goods must undergo customs procedures at the port of entry, including cigarettes, alcohol, beer, passenger cars with less than 16 seats, two-wheeled and three-wheeled motorcycles with internal combustion engines of more than 125cc, airplanes, yachts, various types of gasoline, air conditioners with capacities of 90,000 BTU or less, playing cards, and joss paper. Precursor explosives and industrial explosives, as specified by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and imported goods on the list affecting national defense and security, issued by the Government, as well as imported goods from countries or territories with disease outbreak warnings, as notified by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and goods subject to trade defense measures and anti-circumvention of trade defense measures as decided by the Minister of Industry and Trade, must also undergo customs procedures at the port of entry.
Goods under temporary import for re-export business must follow customs procedures at the border-gate customs branch where the goods are temporarily stored (as stipulated in Article 82 of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC dated March 15, 2015, by the Minister of Finance). Medicines and pharmaceutical raw materials can only be imported through international border gates, except for medicines permitted for non-commercial import (as stipulated in Clause 7, Article 91 of Decree No. 54/2017/NĐ-CP dated May 8, 2017, by the Government).
To facilitate the operation of Phuoc An Port, the Provincial People's Committee has proposed that the General Department of Customs and the Ministry of Finance convert the organizational model of the Nhon Trach Customs Branch (currently an off-port customs branch) into the Nhon Trach Port Customs Branch under the Dong Nai Customs. This change is intended to provide more proactive customs procedures and expedite the clearance of goods for businesses within and outside the province.