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Vietnam is setting its production capacity for manufacturing shipping containers. Vietcombank and VTC are funding the project that cost over US$ 21.5 Million.

As per the news published by English.vietnamnet on May 10,2007, Vietnamese shipping firms will be allowed to use their home made vessels in sea-transportation in the coming two years.

Container ships are used to carry containers by sea. These vessels are designed keeping in mind the individual needs of the shipping companies.

The production factory’s capacity in its initial stages will be 30000 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) a year, which will rise up to approximately 60, 000 TEU over the next stage. This factory will supply its goods to the local shipping firms and will also be exported. The container factory will manufacture shipping containers and the containers will be designed in such a way that it matches up the international standards.

The estimated capital of this project is around $21.5 Million. The total cost for the construction is divided in a joint venture, which would share 25% of the total capital. Rest 75% will be met by raising business loans.

On 9th May 2007, an official agreement was signed between the two parties, which will be financing the project. One of the parties, Vietcombank, agreed to provide VTC (Vinashin-TGC), the other investor, a sum of $16 Million with a 12 months’ grace period for funding the project.

Vietnamese shipbuilding industry, among the important projects it has secured, grabbed an important project worth US$1 Billion for supplying eight car-carriers to Israel. Petrovietnam, the oil company of the state, has also signed an intent letter with Vinashin for three Aframax tankers.  The three 105000 dwt (Dead Weight Tonnage) vessels that are worth over $64 Million each will be delivered by the year 2009.

At present, Vietnam has 70 operational overseas containers shipping companies. These shipping container companies lead the container shipping-market with their multi-billion dollar annual transport turnover.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Anh, VP of Vinashin, on May 16,2007 said as per news published by Marinenorway.etp. that there is constant development and fundamental changes in most of the Vietnamese shipyards. He believes that they will be able to win the confidence of foreign players and capture overseas markets by expanding their business.

He further said in the news that Vietnamese shipbuilding industry is still much behind other nations. Vinashin, through rationalization, enhanced efficiency, and modernization, is trying to reduce this gap.

Airports around the world have reported a slump in global airfreight traffic growth rate in March 2007 as against the same month in 2006. The reasons for this slow growth vary from region to region.

The first quarter results of 2007 revealed that worldwide airfreight traffic increased by 4% as against the same period a year earlier. International airfreight traffic rose by 5% while the domestic sector saw a hike of just 1%, according to the news reported by Aircargonews on May 3, 2007.

Inspite of the slowdown, three areas – Middle East, Africa, and Latin America – posted healthy growth for the international freight sector (seafreight and airfreight). Middle East registered a rise of 5%, African market went up by 6%, and Latin America rose by 7%.

Reasons for the decline in freight results vary from region to region. In North American region, some centers are indicating a drift of replacement of airfreight by trucks. In Asia-Pacific, tough competition within hubs, low demand from the US market, and the influence of sluggish electronic sector were considered as the possible factors for the slowdown. In the Middle East, certain passenger airlines are keeping passenger loads on the priority list, thereby cutting the freight tonnage carried.

According to a September 2006 forecast, the Asian airfreight markets, led by radical growth in intra-Asia and domestic traffic in China, will continue to be a leader in the international airfreight market through 2025.

In the coming two decades, led by the Asian region, the global airfreight is projected to expand by a yearly average of 6.1%. During that period, domestic Chinese markets will rise at around 10.8% annually and intra-Asian market by around 8.6%. Nearly one-third of the trans-Pacific airfreight market is dominated by China with Japan at a distant second spot at approx 24% share.

The international air cargo traffic growth will be bolstered by growing international trade, rising liberalization of air services, and the meliorating technologies that the industry continues to adopt: rise in lower hold capacity and better fuel-efficient carriers. Cargo leads liberalization – an economic growth driver.