Hanoi: APM Terminals and Pharung Shipyard Company, part of the Vietnam's Vinashin, have signed a joint venture to build and operate a new container terminal in the Dinh Vu Industrial Zone. Construction of the new facility, which will serve the capital Hanoi and the country's Red River Delta region is due to start later this year. It is APM Terminals' second container development in Vietnam and is expected to open for business in late 2010. Construction of the Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province in the south of the country, a joint venture with Saigon Port and Vinalines, began in May. That terminal is also scheduled to start operations in late 2010. APM Terminals becomes just the second foreign operator to move into northern Vietnam after SSA of the US, which has a concession in Cai Lan.
The move by APM Terminals comes against a darkening economic backdrop in Vietnam, however. The country's stellar performance over recent years in which GDP has climbed by more than 7% annually, has given way to soaring inflation, a run on the dong and a growing trade deficit. The Government has now adopted a tighter fiscal policy in the hopes of reining in inflation. Although the country has significant reserves of offshore oil, both of its two refineries are still under construction, leaving it at the mercy of soaring oil product prices. [22/7/08]
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