Ways sought to minimise Phu My Bridge impact on ship traffic
18/Aug/2008 Intellasia | Saigon Times Daily page 1
Aug 18, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
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Phu My BOT Joint Stock Co said yesterday it would seek to reduce the period in which ship access to HCM City's ports is obstructed by the installation of cables for Phu My Bridge to three months from the earlier proposed 12months.
When the company begins cable installation next month, around one third of cargo ships bound for the ports along the Saigon River will not be able to pass under the bridge due to a low vertical clearance.
The cable-stayed bridge is designed to provide a 45-metre clearance for huge vessels to enter Saigon, Ben Nghe, Vietnam International Container Terminals and Tan Thuan Dong ports. But when scaffoldings are erected in the cable installation process, the clearance will fall to about 37.5 metres.
Nguyen Thanh Thai, general director of the company, said the company would install cables for two parts of the main span in phases, so that those ships higher than 37 metres can travel under the bridge while construction is in progress.
"Technically, I'm definitely sure the time of obstruction will be reduced to only three months, from early December this year to the end of February next year," Thai said at an emergency meeting called by the Ministry of Transport yesterday to cope with this unforeseen problem.
A consultant for the bridge project was taken to the meeting to explain technical aspects of cable installation.
However, representatives of the ports said at the meeting that despite only three months of interruption, losses would be enormous since it would be hard to negotiate changes to the signed shipping contracts with their clients.
Ho Kim Lan, general secretary of the Vietnam Seaports Association and an executive of Saigon Port, told the Daily that the port had many contracts for this year and next, so it was impossible to divert ships to other ports.
Most of the cargo ships that land at Saigon Port are some 40-42 metres high.
"Even if the obstruction lasts only one-month, the operations of the city's ports can fall into chaos and cause many difficulties," Lan said.
Nguyen Trong Cuu, general director of Ben Nghe Port, said the port could not decide an itinerary for ships operated by foreign shipping firms.
Hoang Tat Thang, deputy head of the transport ministry's Vietnam Maritime Administration, told Phu My BOT Co to find other ways to minimise the impact.
He also asked the Pilot Corp for Zone 1 to mobilise pilots to help the ships navigate to the city's ports during the cable installation process.
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