Saigon Port:: Press Release

PRESS RELEASE

ASEAN Bolsters Transport Role in Economic Integration

Transport Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on 23-24 November 2004 and bolstered cooperation in the ASEAN transport sector.
Transportation is a strong contributor to solidifying regional economic integration and enhanced cooperation will accelerate the momentum towards realizing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in his Opening Address to the Tenth ATM said “the integration and efficiency of transportation networks in ASEAN are key factors to translate a full potential of ASEAN into ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA and to provide incentives for the attraction of the ASEAN region to transform it into a shared destination of production and investment towards a successful realization of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)”. The Prime Minister highlighted that ASEAN transport is also critical in linking ASEAN with the neighboring Northeast and South Asian countries, in the concept of “two wings” for the region; with China, Japan and Korea in the northeast and India in the south of Asia. (See 10th ATM Joint Media Statement)

The Ministers adopted the ASEAN Transport Action Plan 2005-2010 designed to strengthen the transport infrastructure and logistics systems to support the single market and production base under the AEC. This six-year Plan stresses on further developing an integrated, harmonized, safe and secure regional transport logistics network and facilitating the development of regional production network, interconnectivity and interoperability among existing and planned infrastructure, modes and logistics to enable seamless cargo transportation.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates that 75,000 deaths and 4.7 million injuries on ASEAN roads resulted in an economic loss of US $ 15 billion (2.2 % of GDP) a year. Recognizing the heavy cost of loss from road accidents in ASEAN, the Ministers committed themselves to work together to tackle increasing concern. The Ministers issued the Phnom Penh Ministerial Declaration on ASEAN Road Safety . The Ministers endorsed the ASEAN Regional Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan, which elaborate concerted, comprehensive and coordinated actions towards reducing road accidents. The ADB will continue its institutional and advisory support to the ASEAN road safety programs, projects and activities under Phase II of the ADB-ASEAN Road Safety Project.

The Ministers, in promoting a more liberal and competitive ASEAN aviation market, adopted the Action Plan for ASEAN Air Transport Integration and Liberalization which provides strategic actions to advance the full liberalization of air services in ASEAN. The Ministers also endorsed the Roadmap for Integration of Air Travel Sector , to be formalized at the Tenth ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, Lao PDR. This roadmap sets out specific and collective actions for greater integration and liberalization of ASEAN air freight and passenger services in line with the 2003 Bali Concord II which aims to achieve integration of the eleven priority sectors, including air travel, by 2010.

The ASEAN Transport Ministers also met their Chinese and Japanese counterparts, to boost collective actions for safe, secure, efficient and integrated transportation system in the region.

At their third yearly dialogue, the ASEAN and Chinese Transport Ministers underscored the full potential of ASEAN-China strategic partnership in transport over the medium to long term in supporting the ASEAN-China free trade area initiative. The Ministers adopted the final draft of the ASEAN-China Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Transport Cooperation , for signature at the sidelines of the ASEAN-China Summit in Vientiane, Lao PDR next week. The MOU called for strengthening policy and information exchange and implementing joint projects and activities in the following cooperation areas: (a) Transport Infrastructure Construction; (b) Transport Facilitation; (c) Maritime Safety and Security; (d) Air Transport; (e) Human Resources Development; and (f) Information Exchange. The Ministers agreed to develop more liberal cooperative arrangements to provide greater impetus and dynamism into the international ocean shipping and air transport services between the ASEAN countries and China. The Ministers endorsed several capacity building programs for implementation in 2005. (See 3rd ATM+China Joint Media Statement)

The ASEAN Ministers met their Japanese counterpart in the 2nd such dialogue. They committed themselves to deepen the transport partnership, with the adoption of five new projects in the following specific areas: transport logistics improvement, airport and aviation security, road transport safety, use of alternative fuels for public transport and transport information exchange, bringing a total of 21 joint projects for implementation. This ASEAN-Japan transport partnership played an active role in enhancing human and institutional capability in areas such as transport security and safety, urban transport development and seafarers policy cooperation; transfer of technical know-how and technology for efficient and sustainable transport services; and providing new insights into the understanding of logistics bottlenecks existing within ASEAN and between ASEAN countries and Japan. (See 2nd ATM+Japan Joint Media Statement)

The outcome of this latest meeting of ASEAN Transport Ministers reflected the determination of the ASEAN transport sector to continue its catalytic role in strengthening ASEAN economic integration. ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong said “the various action plans, when fully implemented, will make travel for goods and persons more seamless in ASEAN. The improved connectivity will have a positive impact of the region's interaction with the bigger neighbors like China and Japan”.

The ASEAN Transport Ministers will again meet in Lao PDR in 2005. ASEAN countries are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

SAIGON PORT CHOSEN FOR APEC COLLABORATIVE ECOMMERCE PROJECT.
February 8, 2004.

Saigon Port has been selected to participate in an APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) project that aims to encourage collaborative eCommerce initiatives within the port community. A recent study by APEC’s Transportation Working Group (TPT-WG) found that the lack of suitable forums for port stakeholders to communicate their views and discuss common problems with each other was a key factor inhibiting the development of eCommerce in many port communities. This project aims to bring together the whole port community with Saigon Port Authority as the coordinator. A Saigon Port Community website and online forum has also been set up at http://saigon.portcommunity.info/vi/.

The objective of this project is to establish an Intra-port Discussion Group at Saigon Port in order to improve information exchange and facilitate collaborative eCommerce initiatives between key port stakeholders. It is expected that this group will evolve into a working committee dedicated to the ongoing improvement of freight processes at Saigon Port. A workshop has been organised for March 1st and 2nd, 2004 at Saigon Port where key issues faced by the Saigon Port Community will be discussed and participants will be encouraged to develop possible solutions collaboratively. Port community members are encouraged to participate in this workshop by contacting:
Mr Ho Kim Lan of Saigon Port on +84 4 9401030.

With the widespread growth of the Internet, eCommerce has now become much more affordable and accessible, creating a great opportunity for the freight industry to streamline the exchange information. One aspect of this opportunity is the replacement of numerous paper documents with electronic documents resulting in benefits such as costs savings, reduced paperwork, better utilisation of staff and warehouses, better quality data, faster consignment clearance, more reliable track and trace facilities, better transparency, more effective customs authority functions and overall improvement in the flow of goods and services through the freight chain.

Tranzteknik Pty Ltd, an Australian consultancy specialising in freight eCommerce and training is managing this project on behalf of APEC. Managing Director, Mr Arnold Miranda said that in many ports, supply chain participants tended to work within silos (confinements) without understanding how their activities affected other stakeholders. eCommerce solutions developed in this environment will only have limited benefit for the individual stakeholder and usually no benefit whatsoever for the rest of the community.

Stakeholders at Saigon Port have adopted an attitude of continuous improvement with their sights set on becoming one of the leading ports in the region. To achieve this goal, it is important to acknowledge the interdependencies between stakeholders and understand how eCommerce and information sharing can benefits all parties involved. Solutions that take into account the big picture and the interests of the whole community are likely to produce more significant improvement in efficiency and effectiveness than isolated systems. This has been demonstrated at ports that developed Cargo Community Systems collaboratively.
Examples include Port Klang (Malaysia), Port of Valparaiso (Chile) and the Finnish Port System (Finland).

All community members are encouraged to visit the Saigon Port Community website and register their company in the online port directory. They may also participate in online discussions with other stakeholder or contact Saigon Port for further information. Mr Miranda congratulated Saigon Port for taking on a leadership role in this project. He encouraged other organisations to support the Discussion Group through active participation. ‘The project is really for the community and all community members are encouraged to contribute to the future of the port’.

Saigon Port is the central port serving the economic development of Ho Chi Minh City and the Southern part of Vietnam. With its long history and continued development, Saigon Port has had outstanding achievements in port operations through decades of servicing the large community of port users and stakeholders.

Under the Government policy, Saigon Port should maintain its role as a leading port by developing new facilities and promoting agility to meet the demand of the fast growing local market in tandem with the world economic integration. With the mission to develop and operate deep water ports as main shipping gateways for the Southern part of the country, it is expected that the community of the Port would be wider and more demanding where all stakeholders would strive for more competitiveness. The collaborative approach in addressing and clearing common difficulties and bottlenecks in business operations and cooperatively solving problems faced by community members would undoubtedly promote harmony and sustainable development for all parties involved.

In order to stay competitive and responsive to diversified demand of the new business environment, including the multi modal transport and the more demanding e-logistics environment, Saigon Port is seeking the cooperation of all stakeholders in the community to collaboratively tackle and resolve issues of common interest relating to port services.

With the effective support of Tranztenik Pty Ltd. under the APEC project, the Saigon Port Community Discussion Group has been initiated to specifically respond to the above requirements following APEC policy and standards and with the full support of the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam. In the interest of all the parties in the community, Saigon Port is proud to host the forum with the expectation to actively serve the community better and to promote the port community systems of Vietnam to world standard in the shortest time possible.

With such commitment and aspiration we hereby invite all port users and community stakeholders to public their activities and services on the Saigon Port Community website at http://saigon.portcommunity.info/vi/ and/or http://saigon.portcommunity.info/en/ and be an active member in the Saigon Port Discussion Group.

For more information please contact:
Ho Kim Lan
Tel: 848 9401030
Fax: 848 8263092
E-mail: vpa@hcm.vnn.vn
Website: www.csg.com.vn