HCM City(VNA)ꦗ - New regulations and development in the global economy will have a strongimpact on Vietnamese shipping, a conference held to discuss Vietnam’s Maritime Future heard in Ho Chi Minh City on November 13.

Organised just ahead of the Asia Pacific Maritime 2020 exhibition andconference, the event, organised by Asia Pacific Maritime (APM), gathered maritimeexperts from Vietnam and neighbouringcountries. The Vietnamese marine transport sector is growing steadily, with goodstransported by the country’s fleet exceeding 81 million tonnes in the firsthalf of 2019, a year-on-year increase of 16 percent.  The Vietnam Maritime Administration said in the period thecountry’s ports handled 308.8 million tonnes of goods, up 13 percent.  Yeow Hui Leng, group project director, APM, said Vietnam has developed significantly over the past threedecades and its economic outlook remains bright despite economic headwinds andglobal uncertainties. She added that however, the country will need to stay ontop of tightening regulations and modernise. The biggest change facing global shipping is the International Maritime Organisation(IMO)’s new global sulphur cap that comes into effect in January. From then ships will have to use fuel with a sulphur content of no more than 0.5 percent compared to 3.5 percent now. The change poses a great technical challenge for ship owners. Besides, it will increase costs, and major shipbuilders in Japan, the EUand the US are looking for ways to use liquefied fuel to reduce costs, theconference heard.  Participants suggested ships should switch to methanol. Another issue discussed at the event was digitisation in the shippingindustry. Delegates said though Vietnam’s shipping industryis poised for growth, many players have outdated maritime assets and limitedaccess to capital, which hinders digitisation.  The Vietnam Maritime Department issued a call in late 2018 forthe industry to accelerate the adoption of industry 4.0 technologies. Bui Van Trung, secretarygeneral, Vietnam Shipowners Association said the country’s fleet consists mostly of second-hand ships, many of which havetechnologies 15 years old or older, and this puts Vietnam at a disadvantage amid fierce competition from newer ships belonging toforeign owners. According to Trung, while modernisation is a must to survive,it is also a grave problem for the shipping companies, chiefly because of lowprofitability in the business and lack of funds, especially from commercialsources. The current shortage of skilled maritime manpower is also another problemfor ship owners, he said./.