Vietnam's economic growth prospects could be affected due to shortage of modern port facilities, which could reduce its new trade opportunities.

Government officials agree that there is a lack of deepwater and internationally standardised port facilities, which includes enough berths to provide services to incoming container and trans-ocean vessels. Industry analysts said that many a times ship run aground as there are less number of dredged water channels, which provide sea access to ports.

Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) Commercial Officer Malcolm Gregory said, "A number of critical projects are either underway or planned, and these are essential if we are to maximize the capacity of the new deep water terminals to handle main line mother vessels."

Vietnam has become a major manufacturing centre due to rise in container volumes, expanding 2% in 2009, at a time when container throughput fell 10% globally. Thus, if money is invested in modern container facilities, the country will be able to benefit from the trade.

The current Ho Chi Minh City terminals handle over 90% of southern Vietnam's total container traffic amounting to 3.6 million TEUs in 2009. This South Vietnam throughput is expected to increase to 4.8 million TEUs by 2012.

Trinh Duc Trong of the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Infrastructure Management and Urban Development Department said that the government and the World Bank along with other agencies were trying to develop financing options to fulfill the ports requirements.

Trinh Duc Trong of the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Infrastructure Management and Urban Development Department said, "The state has focused on port development, but still we are behind the demand. The demand of capital [for the] port system is far beyond state budget. We are thinking private-public partnerships."

The Vietnamese government plans to contribute 12% and 15% of the total investment budget to the ports master plan.

Intelligence reporting by Global Intelligence Alliance.