Vietnam's CICT secures loan to build new box terminal

VIETNAM's Cai Lan International Container Terminal (CICT) has secured US$100 million in financing after entering into loan agreements with a lending consortium comprised of the IFC, FMO, PROPARCO and ICF Debt Pool.

The funds will be used to construct a new deep water container terminal in Quang Ninh province that supports Hanoi and the north Vietnamese market.

"We are very pleased to work with our lending partners to conclude CICT's financing. It has been a very efficient process. North Vietnam's container volume is growing at over 20 per cent per year, and by 2011 container volume will outgrow terminal capacity. CICT is needed as quickly as we can build it just to keep pace," said Le Trieu Thanh, CICT's chairman, in a report published on Business Wire.

The CICT container terminal is designed to have a 10 metre draft during low tide, a berth measuring 598 metres in length, 18 hectares of container space, four 17-wide ship to shore container cranes and 12 RTGs. Phase One will be able to handle 510,000 TEU per annum with future build out capacity to handle 1,200,000 TEU per annum. CICT will start construction in November and is slated to become operational in late 2011.

"Haiphong Port is currently the primary port serving North Vietnam. However, Haiphong Port is nearly full and has only 5.7 metres of draft so the largest ship the port can accommodate is 600 TEU. CICT's 10 metre draft provides shipping lines a significant operational cost advantage as they can deploy 3,000- to 4,000-TEU ships," said CICT's vice chairman Bob Watters.

Source: SchedNet