Vietnam Seaports Association
On April 13th 2021, SP-SSA International Terminal (SSIT) successfully welcomed the M/V MP THE BELICHICK, a new direct container service connecting Vietnam to the U.S. West Coast, belonging to MSC, Mediterranean Shipping Company, one of the top global businesses engaged in the shipping and logistics sector with Head Office in Geneva, Switzerland.
The new service, named “Sentosa”, is a dedicated MSC service that will link East Asia with the U.S. Pacific Southwest market, promoting trade between the two regions. Its port rotation will be as follows: Singapore – Tanjung Pelepas – Laem Chabang – Vung Tau – Long Beach – Shanghai – Ningbo – Xiamen – Singapore. With the addition of the Sentosa service, SSIT will have two weekly services to the U.S. and receives several weekly intra-Asia calls connecting Vietnam with other Asian countries.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam’s export/import volumes have shown phenomenal results. According to the General Statistics Office, for the first quarter of 2021 the United States was Vietnam’s largest export market with a turnover of 21.2 billion USD, a growth of 32.8% over the same period last year. This growth in the demand for goods to the U.S. has resulted in demand for new services between the two Countries such as MSC’s Sentosa.
“SSIT greatly appreciates the trust displayed by MSC and in particular, Mr. Boris Cohen, MSC Vietnam’s General Director, in allocating this new container service to SSIT for cargo handling, thus promoting the increasingly prosperous trade relations between Vietnam and the United States. SSIT will continuously strive to further improve its “World class service”, being one of the largest deep-sea terminals in the Country and making an important contribution to the development of the Cai Mep Region and the Vietnam seaport system”, said Mr. Robert Hildebrand, General Director of SSIT.
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, Vinalines 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 some of 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. Despite the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic affecting Vietnamese and global businesses, SSIT welcomes this new weekly service to the U.S., showing the great efforts of SSIT members and the support of the carriers. In addition, SSIT deeply 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.
