Ph.D thesis summary by Nguyen Quy Hoang presented at Paramount University 2007

Abstract

Viet Nam has seen rapid economic growth after adopting economic reforms in 1986, making the nation one of the fastest growing economies in Asia. The ongoing efforts of the government towards international economic integration such as the forming of bilateral trade agreements, attaining memberships of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), has led to further rapid changes in Vietnam/s trade and economic regime. Favorable government policies for industrial activity have led to the growth of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows and the establishment of more privately-owned Vietnamese enterprises. This have given great momentum to the nation’s industrial sector and resulted in the multi-fold growth of its international trade.

Hence, Viet Nam is riding high in the eyes of the international community, but it has to do more to improve its image and attract foreign investors. Over the last 10 years, containerized throughput within the country has been growing at about 19% per annum. (Statistic Year book, 2010). The table below, show the estimated increasing growth rates for container trade in Vietnam from year 2000 to 2015 However, Viet Nam port sector is facing a number of critical challenges, including the lack of deep water ports that can receive larger ships, old and inefficient port facilities, and suboptimal landside infrastructure.

Estimated and forecast growth rates for container trade (2000–2015)

Year Container Volume (TEU) Compound Average growth rate over previous period

2000 68.7 9.1%2010 138.9 7.3%2015 177.6 5.0%(Source: GSO 2012)

Understanding deeply this situation, the Vietnamese government also deserves some credits towards their acknowledgement of the seaports’ importance. More and more current ports are being renovated and updated to meet international standards. But the improvement seems not high, there will be some difficulties need to overcome especially the investment policy in port field and the location with favorable soil condition to build the port.

So, how to stimulate the development port field in Vietnam needs to be considered and discussed, that is the purpose of this paper.

Introduction

Vietnam country

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Vietnam has a land area of 329,600 square metes and a population of 80.67 million people of which 60% is below 30 years of age (Vietnam, 2011).

With a coastline of 3260 km and 34 seaports, Vietnam has 126 cargo terminals and a total berth length of 35 km comprising 266 berths. (State of water: Viet Nam, 2012). It is available for container port building

Vietnam is currently the fastest growing economy in south-east Asia. Its GDP growth is expected to be 5.7 % in 2012 (Uncertainty remains, 23 March 2012)

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Year Growth rate of National GDP2012 5.72013 6.22014 6.4(Source: Saigon-gpdaily-Society, 12 April 2012)

PEST Analysis in Vietnam port field

Political: like other fields, the business in port field is also governed by government and foreign rules. The international business is subjected to the political stability. This fact is favorable for Vietnam but the law system changes so often, the process to apply for getting investment certificate in port field is very complicated, a lot of unreasonable regulations to control the investment in port field still exist, this can be seen in the below part- literature review.

Economic: Viet Nam has seen rapid economic growth after adopting the reforms, the economic impacts to container seaport are serious because these affect the growth of Vietnam economy.

Social: Lifestyle has great influence on import field because Vietnamese people likes foreign products, import field will impact to container port. This requires for port development.

Technology: Technology also impacts to port building and transport infrastructure is the core of the country’s infrastructure, which is of great importance in the seaport development. Besides, before building port, geology of the areas needs to be survey, and high technology will impact to this process.

With the favorable geography, PEST analysis result and the increasing of growth rate of National GDP year by year indicate that Vietnam is the potential land and has the good conditions to develop international port.

Literature review

1. The suitable place to build container port in Vietnam

Mr. Vuong Toan Thuyen in 2010 had the study of Vietnam economic for sea transportation, mentioning the ideal places for container building in Vietnam.In this study, he came to the conclusion that Quang Ninh, Cai Lan (from the North), Van Phong (in the central VN) and Cai Mep Thi Vai (in Baria Vung Tau province) are the ideal places to do port development for the south.Let review these locations to find out why they are suitable for container port development

a. Quang Ninh province

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Quang Ninh province (Source: MapZones)

Quang Ninh province has a total area of more than 6,000 sq km. it is one of the large provinces in the northeast of Vietnam and is rectangular in shape. There are no volcanoes, earthquake in the area.

This province has many natural advantages in resources and geographic conditions and suitable waterway, road and railway network and port facilities. Because of these factors, the province is an important gateway to the north of Vietnam The province has access to many land and water transport routes and includes Cai lan, the only deep water port in northern Vietnam.

b. Van phong bay in Khanh Hoa (Nha Trang) province

Khanh Hoa province (Source: MapZones)4

Van phong bay is in Khanh Hoa province- the middle of Vietnam, 50km north of Nha Trang city. The depth is over 22m, and the narrowest part of channel is over 400m that is good for two way safe navigation.

There are no volcanoes, earthquake in the area. The mountain is of granite stone without underground cave, so it is suitable to build huge constructions. Natural heights in islands would be easy to overcome, and there are no obstacles to improving of this area.

This place is a large bay that is naturally protected, closed to wind and not filled by sediment. Its topological structure is strong enough for high weigh construction. The most important advantage of Van Phong is its depth capable of constructing berths for fully loaded ships with capacity over 100,000 DWT and draught over 15m

By these advantages, Van Phong has comparative advantage in attracting new generation vessels and other future ones including container ships. It is in fact a place where dreams of the maritime strategists may come true-developing of an International Transshipment Port in Vietnam.

c. Baria-Vungtau Province in the south

Baria Vung Tau province (Source: MapZones)

Ba Ria Vung Tau is one of a sea province of Vietnam. It is located on the coast of the country’s southern region. With a draft of more than 14 metes, together with more demand on regional transportation in near future Cai mep Thi Vai is ideal place to develop port for the south of Vietnam.

It is to become an overloading for HCM area, it needs to have a new place to develop port for the south of Vietnam, the studying relating to Cai mep Thi Vai shows that this place is the ideal place to do port development for the south based on its geography conditions and the container demand as well.

2. Infrastructure improvement need

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Ms. Doan Thi Phin in 2005 had the paper of “Vietnam Transport Development and challenges”, reported at the ODA Evaluation on Aug 10-1, mentioning the challenges in infrastructure which Vietnam has been facing with.

She mentioned in her paper that “Transport infrastructure is the core of the country’s infrastructure, which is of great importance in the socio-economic development and Vietnam transportation system need to be improved to attract foreign investment” she said “It is necessary to correctly assess the present status of transport infrastructure in order to have development orientations in the near future with the enhancement of economic integration”

She concluded:

- Many roads and many works in operation in Vietnam are of low standards- A number of big sea-ports are located deep in side the hinterland. Their assess channels are not deep enough. Port scale and backups are not integrated, short of a good road system linked with the national road network.

International Container Port can not be built easily if the road system near the intended port building areas is too bad? How material can come easily to the destination for port building?

3. Geology condition to build port in VietnamIn Geology conditions of Vietnam, the study of geology by GeoEngineer Inc USA on 29 March 2007, the land in Baria Vung Tau province ( South of Vietnam) was tested to see whether it can be built the container port or not.

The report mentioned that:

The strata of Vietnam can be mainly divided into the following main layers:

Layer 1: (CH/MH) Plastic clay with organic mater, bluish grey, dark greyLayer 2: (SP-SM) Medium to fine Silty Sand, yellowish grey, bluish grey, medium dense to dense stateLayer 3: (CH/CL) Hard Clay, whitish grey, bluish greyLayer 4: (SM/SP-SM) Fine Silty Sand, yellowish grey, dense stateLayer 5: (SM/SW-SM) Weathered medium to fine Silty Sand, whitish grey, bluish grey, very dense stateLayer 6: Granite, whitish grey, mottled dark, hard state

Based on the geotechnical review, it appears that up to 45 meters of highly compressible saturated clay exists below the site. This clay is underlain by a zone of medium dense to very dense sand with relatively low compressibility. The clay can be separated into two units:

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1. An upper unit approximately 22 meters thick with undrained shear strength ranging from approximately 5 to 25 kPa (100 to 500 psf).

2. A lower unit approximately 23 meters thick with undrained shear strength ranging from approximately 25 to 75 kPa (500 to 1500 psf).

Because of the thickness and low strength of the clay units, it is likely that significant consolidation settlement will occur and slope stability will be affected when fill is placed.

This report came to the conclusion that sea provinces in Vietnam is able to build container ports.

4. Port congestion mainly in the south of Vietnam

Frost & Sullivan (2006) in Vietnam transportation and logistics: Challenge & opportunities shows that port congestion mainly in the south of Vietnam, it can be seen in the table below:

Based on the above table, it can be seen that throughput of South Vietnam accounts for 73% (2,228,629/ 3,050,508) of the country’s total container ones

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5. The procedure to get investment certificate in port field still complicated After reviewing the current law stipulated for investment certificate in port field, the writer saw that Vietnam has a lot of unreasonable regulations to control the investor doing business in Vietnam, such as:

Tender law governs the contractor and supplier choosing of investors stating that more than USD 31,250 for consulting service, more than USD 125,000 for purchases needs to have the tender. (DECREE OF THE GOVERNMENT, 31 July 2000)

Joint venture enterprises having more than 30% state owned capital needs to follow the tender law. (DECREE OF THE GOVERNMENT, 31 July 2000)

Foreign investor into port field needs to joint with Stated owned company and can not have the share more than 49%.( Thomas J. Treutler and John E, September 2007)

Basis design need to be approved by MOT before starting construction and this process takes more than 2.3 months

The writer in will take some results from three above studies (1 to 4) to support for the recommendation in this research project. But, not stopping at the condition of market needs for container port development. The paper will mention the key conditions to develop international container in Vietnam. For example, in order to attract foreign investment in port field, to simplify the procedure to grant investment certificate for foreign port investment should be put in consideration by the government.

The paper will shows for investors have the whole picture of current situation for port field in Vietnam, based on that, they can have plan to invest into Vietnam in this field.So, this paper can bring benefit to Vietnam government and to foreign investors.

Research findings

To support for literature review, 30 questionnaires will be sent to foreign companies in Ha Noi, HCMC and Da Nang to get the opinion from the port investors.

This section provides the analysis and discussion of the survey findings focusing mainly on three main points:

(1) The relative importance of motivating factors that foreign investors in port field considered when selecting investment locations in Vietnam

(2) How foreign investors in port field evaluated actual conditions to the place they want invest into.

(3) How actual conditions of the place influenced investor investment in port field decision.

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The relative Importance of Motivating FactorsQuestion 1: Which is the most importance factor when you like to invest in international container port field into Vietnam?

Many factors may affect the foreign investors’ decision when selecting a location for investment in Vietnam. After conducting the in-depth interview with potential respondents, four factors were taken into consideration by investors in their investment decisions.

Factors Code Frequency

Physical infrastructure (Transportation, Power/water supply, sewage system)

1 13

Legal procedures to get certificate investment 2 10Local costs 3 4Geographical location 4 3

Mode Physical infrastructureMean 1.9Standard deviation 0.99

Self- reported relative importance of the above-mentioned motive factors indicates that physical infrastructure was considered to be the most important factor when investing in international container port field into Vietnam with 13 choices. In addition, the Legal procedures to get certificate investment and Local costs accounted for 10 choices and 4 choices respectively. The

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geographical location was not considered as very critical factors influencing with the lowest choices (3 choices). Thus, mode is physical infrastructure because it is the first choice of all respondents. Besides, comparing with 4 ranking, standard deviation is 0.99 is quite high. So, it makes the result is not exact.

1. Infrastructure factors for attracting FDI

Question 2: Access the quality of Vietnam Sea port transportation and the road system in provinces which have sea (like Ba Ria, Vung Tau, Nha Trang, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh…)

Respondents operating in different fields have different opinion about the relative importance of each type of transportation that directly affects their business. About 55% of the respondents recognized that waterway was the most important means of transporting goods and materials. This makes sense for doing international container port development in Vietnam.

When assessing the quality of Vietnam Sea port transportation and the road system in provinces which have sea (like Ba Ria, Vung Tau, Nha Trang, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh…), the respondents were asked to evaluate (from poor to good) for the actual system. And this is the result:

  FrequencyPoor Normal Good

Seaport 14 10 6Road system 16 9 5

Seaport

Code FrequencyPoor 1 14Normal 2 10Good 3 6

Mode PoorMean 1.73Standard deviation 0.78

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Road system

Code FrequencyPoor 1 16Normal 2 9Good 3 5

Mode PoorMean 1.63Standard deviation 0.76

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According to the result, nearly half of respondents (14/30 respondents) evaluated Seaport transportation was poor. This level is also the mode. According to the mean and standard deviation, the standard deviation is low when rate is 3 and with this standard deviation is low, it enables the result is more accurate. Besides, few respondents (10/30 respondents and 6/30 respondents) evaluated Seaport transportation was normal and good respectively. Thus, Vietnam Sea port transportation needs to be improved the quality for international container port development.

About road system, it also has haft of respondents (16/30 respondents) thought it poor, 9 respondents evaluated it normal and only 5 respondents evaluated it good. Therefore, mode is poor. This result is also accurate, because the standard deviation is low (0.76). And the same with Seaport, the quality of Road system in provinces which have sea (like Ba Ria, Vung Tau, Nha Trang, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh…) need to be improved.

Question 3: Access the quality of power and water supply in provinces which have sea in Vietnam, it considers as infrastructure for international container port investment

Electricity comes from the North-South 500 kV high voltage line through 110 kV and 220 kV substations. It basically meets domestic needs and supplies electricity to major industrial areas.

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However, because of outdated electricity grid system, minor problems occurred sometimes and affected businesses in the areas.

To develop any business as well as the international container port, the investors always consider about the quality of power and water supply to make sure it does not have any problems in the building and operation. Besides, the sewage system is also the important factor when considering for the container port development. As we know, the sewage system is a drainage system for carrying surface water and sewage for disposal. If this system is not good, it will cause the circulation problems for boats, and ships. As the result, to develop international container port in Vietnam, three factors need to be evaluated.

And the table below shows the evaluation of respondents about the quality of power and water supply in provinces which have sea. In summary, the power and water supply as well as sewage system of Vietnam is acceptable and could meet investor basic requirement.

FrequencyPoor Normal Good

Power supply 4 11 15Water supply 1 9 20Sewage system 2 18 10

Power supply

Code FrequencyPoor 1 4Normal 2 11Good 3 15

Mode GoodMean 2.37Standard deviation 0.72

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Water supply

Code FrequencyPoor 1 1Normal 2 9Good 3 20

Mode GoodMean 2.63Standard deviation 0.56

Sewage system

Code FrequencyPoor 1 1Normal 2 18Good 3 10

Mode NormalMean 2.23Standard deviation 0.54

Almost respondents evaluated the water supply and the power supply was good (15 choices and 20 choices respectively). This level is also the mode. A small number of respondents think it normal with 9 choices and 11 choices respectively. Only few respondents considered it poor (1 choice and 4 choices respectively). About the Sewage system, mode is normal, because over half of respondents thought it normal. 10 respondents evaluated it good and only 1 respondent thought it poor. All of these results are accurate, because the standard deviation is low. (0.72, 0.56, and 0.54 respectively)

2. Legal supports from Vietnam government

Question 4: What do you think about the legal procedures relating to submission for international container port investment certificate into Vietnam?

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To operate a business legally, any investors and businesses need to meet all the laws and requirements in this country. And legal procedures relating to submission for international container port investment certificate into Vietnam can consider as the vital factor to start the investment into domestic field.

For the purpose of this study, the respondents were asked about the legal procedures relating to submission for international container port investment certificate into Vietnam. And the result was presented in table below:

Code Frequency Percentage (%)

Complicated 1 18 60Easily 2 12 40

Mode ComplicatedMean 1.4Standard deviation 0.5

Complicated was what the respondents described legal procedures relating to submission for international container port investment certificate into Vietnam with the large number of choices (18 choices).The rest of respondents evaluated it easily with 12 choices. Thus, mode is complicated. Moreover, through the mean and low standard deviation (0.5), this result can be considered accuracy.

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Besides, respondents also complained about the decision making process of local agencies as well as working attitudes of officers who have responsibility in related fields. A conservative and bureaucratic system was the most problematic, which frustrated foreign investors. Many respondents agreed that the decision making process was too slow. Sometimes, unclear responsibility between authorities cost them a lot of time and solve a small problem. For example, customs officials are unable to define the quality and consistency of equipment and machinery, forcing businesses to spend time and money hiring professional appraising organizations to assess their goods.

3. Cost consideration for port field investor

Question 5: Which local costs, foreign investors may consider when deciding to invest in international container port field into Vietnam

Foreign investors took into account several types of cost in making their investment decision. In-depth interviews with respondents revealed that they usually tend to choose the location which helps them to gain opportunities of lowering Labor cost, reducing Preparation costs (legal, feasibility study, consultant, survey….), and Material costs, getting cheaper Land cost (land lease).

To evaluate the local costs, foreign investors may consider when deciding to invest in international container port, respondents were ask to choose four major types of cost. These are Labor cost, Preparation costs (legal, feasibility study, consultant, survey….), Material costs, Land cost (land lease). And the table below shows the result.

Type of cost Code FrequencyLabor cost 1 13

Preparation costs (legal, feasibility study, consultant, survey….) 2 2Material costs 3 10Land cost (Land lease) 4 5

Mode Labor costMean 2.23Standard deviation 0.74

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Self reported local costs, foreign investors considered the most was Labor cost (13 /30 choices). The second local cost, which they considered was Material costs with 10 choices. The third cost was Land cost (Land lease) with 5 choices. And the least choices were Preparation costs (legal, feasibility study, consultant, survey….). Therefore, mode is the labor cost. And basing on mean and quite low standard deviation (0.74), the result might be accuracy.

5. Geographical location

Question 6: What do you think the geographical factor in Vietnam for in international container port development?

Vietnam, especially in the central has many advantages for the port development, but it is also has some disadvantages. The central is located in the typhoon path and serious flooding happen every year. This limitation seriously affected the operating process, transportation network as well as daily life of people. And for the purpose of this study, the respondents were asked to evaluate the geographical factor in Vietnam for port development with the result as follow:

Geographical factor Code Frequency

Percent (%)

Very good 1 3 10Good 2 21 70Normal 3 5 17Poor 4 1 3

Mode GoodMean 2.13Standard deviation 0.63

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Seventy percent respondents (21/30 respondents) believed that the geographical location in Vietnam for port development was good. This level is also the mode. Besides, 10 percent respondents evaluated the geographical location in Vietnam very good. Only three percent respondents evaluated it was poor. And the rest of them evaluated it normal with seventy percent. According to the mean and standard deviation, the standard deviation is low when rate is 4 and most of them think the geographical location in Vietnam is good. When the standard deviation is low, this enables the result is more accurate. And with the result of this question, we can see the geographical location in Vietnam has the high potential for port development.

Question 7: Which part in Vietnam (North, Central, and South) in Vietnam you intend for international container port investment?

Location for seaport is one of all important factors when deciding to invest. Investors always want to find the favorable locations to reduce the building risks, to make their job easily, and to have more advantages for future operations. This is the reason why respondents were asked to evaluate the suitable part in Vietnam, which they think it has more intention for international container port investment. And the results are shown in these tables:

  Code FrequencyNorth 1 5Central 2 8South 3 17

Mode SouthMean 2.4Standard deviation 0.77

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According to result, there are 17 respondents choose the South is the most intention location for developing international container port. The second location is Central with 8 choices and the third location is the North with 5 choices. Therefore, mode is the South. In addition, with the mean and low standard deviation (0.77), the result will be more exactly.

Question 8: Do you think the climate in Vietnam suitable for international container port development, no serious risks (like volcano, earthquake, typhoon, flood…) will impact to your investment?

  Code Frequency PercentageYes 1 20 67No 2 10 33

Mode YesMean 1.33Standard deviation 0.48

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Vietnam lies in the tropics and subtropics, with the climate varies considerably from region to region. However, the main climate in Vietnam is distinguished as two seasons, which are the rainy and the sunny. Moreover, it does not have any volcanoes, earthquakes. Sometimes it has typhoons and floods, but it does not happen frequently. Besides, the climate can be predicted, if it has the big typhoons and floods. Thus, there are 67% respondents agreed the climate in Vietnam suitable for international container port development, no serious risk. And only 33% respondents disagreed it. Basing on it, mode is yes. In addition, Standard deviation is 0.48. It is low and provides the accurate result. So, Vietnam’s climate can be considered as suitable for developing international container port.

6. Intention of investors

Question 9: Do you think Vietnam has the major potential for international port development?

Code Frequency PercentageYes 1 21 70%No 2 9 30%

Mode YesMean 1.3Standard deviation 0.47

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Through the result, port development has 70 percent of respondents (21 choices) believe that it really has the major potential. So, mode is yes. And only 30 percent of respondents (9 choices) think it not. And the result is exactly, because of the mean and low standard deviation (0.47). Therefore, Vietnam is really the potential country can develop the international container port.

Question 10: If not investment now, do you think you will invest for international container port field in future?

Code Frequency Percentage (%)

Yes 1 18 60%No 2 12 40%

Mode YesMean 1.4Standard deviation 0.5

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Port development got the respondent’ belief and interest, this illustrated the number of respondents want to invest for it in future with 60%, therefore, mode is yes. And there is a minority proportion does not want to invest with 40%. Because of the mean, and low standard deviation (0.5), it will provide the accurate result Nevertheless, port development still has the expectation to develop in the future.

Recommendation

1. The necessity to have port development in VietnamPort development needs to be done in Vietnam due to the following reasons:

Current facilities of main ports in Vietnam are not enough.

Vietnam has soft climate, has many provinces which have sea, has suitable land geology to build ports, so it becomes the potential place for international container ports to be build, this matches with the result from above questionnaires ( result from question 6, 8, 9 and 10), besides those, with the cheap labour price in Vietnam also is the most advantage for Vietnam to attract the foreign investment in general and in port field in particularly ( result from question 5)

The majority of ports in Vietnam are not designed for modern cargo handling.

Many of the older ports in Vietnam are designed for bulk cargo and do not have dedicated container handling equipment and facilities.

Potential port congestion is of increasing concern at some ports especially in southern Vietnam, which has further added to the lead times in cargo handling.

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Vietnam container volume has grown, the growth has created a deficit of container terminal capacity.

2. Port building and suitable areas

a. Northern area of VietnamWith a draft of more than 12 metres, Quang Ninh is the ideal place to build international container ports.

b. Central area of VietnamAs said in literature review, Van Phong bay in Khanh Hoa province has natural deep water conditions with a draft of more than 15 meters, this is the very good place to build port for the central of Vietnam

c. Southern areaDue to the port congestion for the south of Vietnam area, the main new port development plans should be focused on the Cai Mep Thi Vai belonging to Baria Vung Tau province. With a depth of 14m, the ports to be built here will be the deepest container ports and expected to become the main international gateway ports for South of Vietnam.

Most of investors to be asked in the survey like to invest port in the south of Vietnam (result from question 7)

3. Infrastructure renovation in the sea provincesRoad system in the sea provinces where container port will be built is very important factor for foreign investors when they want to select the investment location in Vietnam. So Vietnam needs:

Quickly upgrade, improve the road system in the sea provinces where container ports can be built.

It means that when the new ports are built, the Government needs to ensure that the landside infrastructure development matches that of the new ports (result from question 2, 3).

4. Need to have the simplification of current law systemThe results of questionnaires show that the investors are not satisfy with the current procedure to get the investment certificate in port field. Therefore, in order to attract the FDI, Vietnam needs to simplify the related law system and try to make them simple and improve the approval process. (result from question 4)

Conclusion

Through the study, some measures to develop International port in Vietnam have been mentioned. In order to attract investment in port field, Vietnam government needs:

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To simplify the administrative procedure for granting investment certificate to investors To renovate infrastructure, ready for international container port

development To have the plan to call investment in port building with international

standard in Quang Ninh ( North), Van Phong ( Central), Cai Mep Baria Vung Tau province ( south of Vietnam) to meet the growth of economic, but priority is in the south of Vietnam

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References

1. Vietnam, 2011 Available from: http://countries.bridgat.com/Vietnam.html [online] [Accessed: 5 Sep 2012]

2. State of water: Viet Nam, 2012 Available from http://www.wepa-db.net/policies/state/vietnam/seaareas.htm [online] [Accessed: 5 Sep 2012]

3. Uncertainty remains, 23 March 2012 Available from: http://news.vneconomy.vn/20120323110952780P0C6/uncertainty-remains.htm [online] [Accessed: 5 Sep 2012]

4. Saigon-gpdaily-Society, 12 April 2012 Available from: http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/National/Society/2012/4/100723/ [online] [Accessed: 5 Sep 2012]

5. DECREE OF THE GOVERNMENT, 31 July 2000 Available from: http://www.dpi.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/invest/html/law5.html [online] [Accessed: 5 Sep 2012]

6. Thomas J. Treutler and John E, September 2007. DOING BUSINESS IN VIETNAM Available from: http://taglaw.com/files/Doing%20Business%20Guides/Doing%20Business%20in%20Vietnam.pdf [online [Accessed: 5 Sep 2012]

7. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES / EMERGING MARKET, no date Available from: http://www.investinvietnam.vn/lng/2/detail/2759/Emerging-Market.aspx [online] [Accessed: 5 Sep 2012]

8. GSO (2010) “Statistical Yearbook 2010”9. GSO (2012) “Statistical Yearbook 2012”10. Vuong Toan Thuyen (2010) Economic for sea transportation11. Doan Thi Phin (2005) “Vietnam Transport Development and challenges”,

reported at the ODA Evaluation on Aug 10-1112. Frost & Sullivan (2006) Vietnam transportation and logistic: Challenge &

opportunities 13. GeoEngineer Inc USA (2007) Geology condition for Vietnam14. Vinamarine (2004) Van Phong- The Vision of Century15. Drewry Shipping Consultant (2006) Caimep Container Market Study16. VN Economic times (2010) Vietnam opportunities for Investors

Website referenceshttp://www.business-in-asia.com/ports_in_vietnam.htmlhttp://www.vneconomy.com.vnhttp://www.saigontimesweekly.saigonnet.vnhttp://www.mof.gov.vnhttp://www.vietnamluat.comhttp://www.gdt.gov.vn

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http://www.hcmtax.gov.vn

QuestionnaireSea Port always is a critical gateway for both imports and exports in any countries. So, this questionnaire is designed to discover which factors investors concern when they want to invest into the country and what they think about the legal environment of Vietnam. Discussion on this questionnaire will help us to find out the main measures for stimulating international container port in Vietnam. Your answer is confidential. Thank you for your helping.

Name:..........................................................................Gender:.....................Age:......................

Business field:.............................................................Nationality:.............................................

The relative importance of motivating factors.

1. Which is the most importance factor when you like to invest in international container port field into Vietnam?

Physical infrastructure (Transportation, Power/water supply, sewage system) Legal procedures to get certificate investment Local costs Geography condition

2. Access the quality of Vietnam Sea port transportation and the road system in provinces which have sea (like Ba Ria, Vung Tau, Nha Trang, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh…)

Poor Normal GoodSea port Road system

3. Access the quality of power and water supply in provinces which have sea in Vietnam, it considers as infrastructure for international container port investment

Poor Normal GoodPower supply Water supply Sewage system

4. What do you think about the legal procedures relating to submission for international container port investment certificate into Vietnam?

Complicated26

Easy5. Which local costs, foreign investors may consider when deciding to invest in

international container port field into Vietnam Labor cost Preparation costs (legal, feasibility study, consultant, survey….) Material costs Land cost ( land lease)

6. What do you think the geographical factor in Vietnam for in international container port development?

Very good Good Normal Poor

7. Which part in Vietnam (North, Central, and South) in Vietnam you intend for international container port investment?

North Central South

8. Do you think the climate in Vietnam suitable for international container port development, no serious risks (like volcano, earthquake, typhoon, flood…) will impact to your investment?

Yes, it is suitable No, it is not

9. Do you think Vietnam has the major potential for international port development? Yes No

10. If not investment now, do you think you will invest for international container port field in future?

Yes No

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