Page 250 - Ebook HTKH 2024

Every year, there is about 17-18 million tons/year of agricultural products such as
rice, aquatic products and fruit that need to be transported by inland waterway and sea

for export. However, the deployment and exploitation of waterway transport are facing
problems with the connection between ports, due to the small number of ports
accounting for over 85%, leading to a handling capacity of only 10,000 tons/year.
Meanwhile, the loading docks for major inland waterway ports in the region are not yet
secure, so the goods transported from the Mekong Delta to foreign countries must go
through ports in Ho Chi Minh City and Cai Mep port, in which means of transport are
not guaranteed. The river system in the Mekong Delta region is intertwined, not only
serving the river economy of the region, including agricultural production,

transportation, and development, developing tourism, serving the construction,
especially serving the development of the river transport logistics system. Although the
Mekong Delta is favored for waterway transport, most of the connections between inland
waterways and road and sea routes have not been exploited and effectively used. This
is partly because the vision in the integrated planning has not yet combined waterway
and land resources. Some obstacles in water transport in circulation encountered many

places where the navigability of some bridges was not guaranteed according to the
planning level, leading to the size and weight of ships not being able to navigate, which
leads to a consequence that increases transportation costs and prolongs transit time.
Some places are interested in investing to create ventilation for boats, but there appears
to be sluggishness in construction, leading to the appearance of landslides and
sedimentation in the sections of canal banks that have not been protected by
embankments. stream. The logistics system is very weak, barely formed. Because of this

lack of uniformity, many exporters in the region do not prioritize choosing waterways
to transport goods.
4. Proposed solutions to develop inland waterway transportation in a
sustainable way
The first issue of inland waterway transportation in The Mekong Region is inland
waterway infrastructure. The solution is on the basis of making full use of and exploiting

the advantages of natural conditions, strengthening connections with seaport systems to
increase competitiveness and reduce transportation costs. It should focus on inland
waterway transport, especially for bulk cargo instead of focusing on road, and establish
multimodal transport hubs to transport by volume/type of goods. Some inland waterways
and ports need to be upgraded to improve transportation in the region. The inland
waterway infrastructure system in the Mekong Delta region is planned for the period to
2030, with a vision to 2050, including 04 inland waterway transport corridors, 20 main
inland waterway transport routes with a total length of 2,570 km, 13 clusters of cargo

ports with a total capacity of 53.65 million tons/year and 11 clusters of passenger ports
with a total capacity of 31 million passengers/year.
The region should focus on investing in the development of inland waterway
infrastructure in order to bring into play the potentials and advantages of the region;
improving the part of container transport, focus on connecting the regional focal

242