Thousands of containers left at Hai Phong Port

Nearly 1,000 containers, which carried goods that are subject for re-export, mostly used tyres, have been left for months at Hai Phong Port.- VNA/VNS Photo Lam Khanh

Cao Trung Ngoan, deputy general director of Hai Phong Port, said nearly 1,000 containers, filled with goods subject for re-export, mostly used tyres, have been left at the port for months.

A container is considered inventory if it is left at the port for more than 90 days, according to the Ministry of Finance.

However, the majority of the above mentioned containers had been kept in storage for up to 4 years, causing billions of dong in inventory management, transportation, storage and pollution.

Despite efforts by Hai Phong Port authorities, including calling on goods owners to re-export them or asking firms to recycle them, only 400 containers have been dealt with since October 2014.

The reasons containers are stacking up at seaports are various, according to port and customs officials.

In some cases, although containers arrived in Viet Nam under temporary import/export permits and were supposed to only transit the ports, they were abandoned when businesses realised that there was no chance of shipping them out of the country.

Enterprises have between 5 and 7 days to finish customs procedures to receive their goods. After that period, enterprises have to pay port warehousing fees.

"The more containers are lying unused at seaport, the more losses the port suffers," Ngoan said to Tin Tuc (News) newspaper.

Hai Phong Port authorities plan to reduce or exempt costs for shipping companies and goods owners to ease difficulties for them, he said, adding that it might cost VND150 million (US$6,720) to handle an abandoned container.

The port's management board also proposed that the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport, Hai Phong city's authorities and customs department do not allow industrial waste to be imported and strictly deal with shipping companies and goods owners who abandon their goods.

The government should tighten the regulations on re-export goods as well as revise rules so that goods owners can refuse to receive their goods if their counterparts don't act in accordance with the contracts to prevent port facilities from dumps, said experts.

Tran Huy Hien, general director of Viet Nam Logistics Association, said competence agencies should introduce a roadmap to settle abandoned containers.

The Government should assign funds for customs to deal with unclaimed containers if it costs a lot of money and selling the contents can't cover storage charges.

It is necessary to reduce containers' port storage time limit to 30 days to prevent the reoccurrence in the future, he said.