Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam National Shipping Lines(Vinalines) will open a logistics centre for container shipping on December 17as part of moves to restructure the State-owned firm, according to DeputyDirector General Do Thi Ngoc Trang.

The Hanoi-based centre will provide logistical support for 10 containerships owned by Vinalines initially. It is expected to help the corporationdevelop a professional system of container transportation, utilising existingresources from its two subsidiaries – the Vinalines Container Shipping Company(Vinalines Container) and Bien Dong Shipping Company.

By founding the centre, Vinalines expects to cut administrative costsby half, equivalent to 18.7 billion VND, by reducing the number of personnelneeded and lease payments.

The government and the Ministry of Transport have adopted long-term andshort-term strategies for sea-based economy development and the launch of thecentre will help translate the strategies into practice, Trang said.

The centre also hopes to lure more domestic and foreign customers andpartners in port and logistics industries for Vinalines, boosting its businessperformance, she added.

Vinalines, founded in 1995, is a fully State-owned enterprise. It wastransformed into a holding company in 2006 and a State-owned one member limitedcompany in 2010. The corporation has made various restructuring steps toimprove its business results after several years of sharply falling profits.

The company’s revenue exceeded 3.1trillion VND (136.2 million USD) in 2017, only half of 2016’s number. Itspre-tax profit was just 306 billion VND, equivalent to 12.2 percent of 2016’sresult.

With more than 30subsidiary and affiliate companies, Vinalines’ total consolidated revenue was15.8 trillion VND in 2017, down by 12.3 percent year-on-year, while itspre-tax profit surged 189 percent over 2016 to reach 682 billion VND.

In 2018, thecompany’s leaders have set lower business targets due to continued fleetstreamlining and decreasing of financial income.

Vinalines isprojected to earn consolidated revenue of 13.64 trillion VND in 2018, down 13.7percent from 2017, and a pre-tax profit of 668 billion VND, down 3 percent.–VNA