A Ministry of Transport official said the tough economic conditions did not affect the cargo transport volume of Vietnam’s ship fleet last year as it still grew by 8% versus the previous year.

Nguyen Cong Bang, deputy head of the ministry’s Transport Department, said Vietnamese ships were responsible for an estimated 96 million tons of cargo last year, up 8% year-on-year.

International shipping volume grew 6.15% to over 66 million tons. Meanwhile, domestic shipping volume totaled some 30 million tons, an improvement of 13%.

Under the plan of the maritime industry, the total shipping volume of Vietnam’s ship fleet this year will pick up by 6-8% against 2011 to 103 million tons. The domestic shipping volume is estimated to rise by 3-5% and international shipping up 17-19%.

However, Bang said although Vietnam’s ships could now transport cargo on long shipping routes, cargo transport demand on these routes was not high while foreign ships were playing a dominant role.

In addition, he stressed both local and foreign shipping enterprises were facing many problems partly because of the dropping fees given the gloomy business situation in 2011.

Source Thesaigontimes