On 27th Apr 2009, HCMC People Committee holds the Opening Ceremony of Dredging Soai Rap Channel the second channel beside the current Lòng Tàu channel to accommodate bigger vessels navigating in and out of ports in Hồ Chí Minh city, Đồng Nai, Long An and Tiền Giang provinces, by Tân Thuận IPC and PortCoast.
Based on the growth and possibility of Hồ Chí Minh city and the area, in line with the development of cargo throughput and time scale of Hiệp Phước port complex investment and construction, the dredging plan for Soài Rạp channel is scheduled as follows:
- Phase 2009-2010 is to dredge to –9.5m with the tidal ads, to accommodate vessels from 30,000 GRT to 50,000GRT (containerships of 4,000 TEU) into the ports with capacity of 140 million tones per year, the dredging volume is 14mil cbm.
- Phase 2012-2013 is to dredge to -11m to accommodate vessels from 50,000 GRT to 70,000GRT into the ports with capacity of 180 million tones per year; the additional dredging volume is 15.5mil cbm.
- Phase after 2013 is to dredge to -12m to accommodate vessels of 70,000GRT into the ports with capacity of 250 million tones per year; the additional dredging volume is 11mil cbm.
Within the area, there are Saigon Premier Container Terminal (SPCT) that is under construction and scheduled to put into operation at the 4th quarter of this year. When completed SPCT will be a world-class container terminal with 1km of quay line and an annual capacity of over 1.5mil TEU; the Saigon Hiệp Phước is about to begin construction by this May. The opening and further dredging of Soai Rap channel that will accommodate bigger vessels into Hiệp Phước port complex, together with the development of Cái Mép-Thị Vải port complex could bring bid advantages to the Southern Key Economic Zone particularly for Hồ Chí Minh city, Long An, Tiền Giang provinces and Mekong Delta as local waterways can connect with Soài Rạp river and port complexes on this river.
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