On 11th December 2020, SP-SSA International Terminal (SSIT) reached 500,000 TEU vessel as an important milestone during cargo operation for M/V CMA CGM FIGARO. This is one of vessels of PEX3 service as a direct container service to United States West Coast deployed by CMA-CGM shipping line.
In the period of last months of 2020, due to high export demand to United States and high demand for empty containers, SSIT enjoyed a good growth on volume of vessels berthing at SSIT and some ad-hoc vessels calling for empty discharge. For 11 months of 2020, total volume of vessel reached 475.751 TEU, 135% increase compared with same period of last year. For total throughput volume, it is estimated to reach over 1.000.000 TEU total throughput for full year 2020. SSIT currently has 6 vessels calling weekly for cargo operation including 2 vessels to United States and remained 4 vessels to other Asian countries. Regarding bulk volume, SSIT expects to reach more than 2 million tons for the whole year 2020.
“SSIT greatly appreciates the trust displayed by customers as MSC, THE Alliance, CMA in bringing large container vessels to SSIT for cargo handling, thus promoting increasingly prosperous trade relations between Vietnam, the United States, and Canada and other Asian countries. With additional requests from major carriers of the world, SSIT has been and will continue to work with relevant government agencies to support large vessels calling Vietnam, including Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCV’s) with capacities of 18,000+ teu’s, which support a reduction in costs per unit for the carriers. SSIT will continuously strive to further improve its service quality, being one of the largest deep-sea terminals in the country, making an important contribution to the development of the Cai Mep and Vietnam seaport system”, said Mr. Nguyen Le Chon Tam, General Director of SSIT.
SSIT started bulk operations in October 2014; as demand for container capacity increased, in June 2018 SSIT welcomed the first container vessel and entered a new phase of both bulk and container operations. Despite the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 affecting the Vietnamese and global economies, volume at SSIT keeps increasing impressively. It is expected that SSIT will welcome 3rd Intra Asia service around end of 2020 and hope to have one more direct long-haul service to US or Europe in 2021.
With outstanding growth and development in 2020, SSIT expects to achieve a positive Net Income for the first time after two years of operating container vessel. This is a very encouraging and proud signal of SSIT. In addition to the great efforts from the management team and staffs of SSIT, the strong supports of international shipping lines, SSIT highly appreciates the great support of the Ministry of Transport, Vietnam Maritime Administration and Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province as well as government agencies and departments.
SP-SSA International Terminal (SSIT) is a deep-sea terminal located in Cai Mep Thi Vai, Ba Ria Vung Tau province. SSIT is a joint venture established in 2006 between SSA Marine, Seattle, Washington USA and the two Vietnamese companies, VIMC and Saigon Port. Located in the downstream area of Cai Mep, SSIT was built to operate large container vessels and is equipped with modern container handling equipment, including the largest STS cranes in Vietnam, a land area of 60 hectares and 600 meters of berth length. In addition, SSIT also has 445 meters of specialized berth for handling barges connecting export and import goods from ICDs (Inland Container Depots), ports in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai and Binh Duong areas with Cai Mep area.
