Many shipping firms on the verge of going bankrupt

In the first six months in 2011, Vinalines posted a loss of 660 billion dong, of which Vinalines branch in HCM City lost 140 billion dong, according to Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon (Saigon Economic Times) on Monday.
In addition, Falcon Shipping Joint Stock Company (Falcon) also reported a 48 billion dong loss, while VTB Vinalines made a loss of 110 billion dong, Bien Dong Shipping Company (Bisco) with a 75 billion dong loss, Vinashinlines with 78 billion dong, and Vosco also suffered a loss of 21 billion dong and it only escaped from the loss by selling the ships.
In the first six months this year, freight rates decreased compared with the same period, while the amount of transported goods was lesser, which led to many small vessels back to the domestic market. Therefore, a situation of price competition and accepting late payments and others occurred, causing difficulties for transportation firms.
Clinker was the most transported goods from the north to southern provinces. In late 2010, the freight of clinker was 300,000 to 350,000 dong/tonne, but now it has reduced to 240,000 dong/tonne. Other items such as cassava starch from the south also are running out, and the freight is about 150,000 to 170,000 dong/tonne.
According to the figures of Vietnam National Maritime Bureau, as of June 30, the domestic fleet with Vietnamese flag only gained 6% of market share in inland transport, the rest of market share belonged to 44 vessels of 6,000-27,000 DWT with foreign-flags that had domestic transportation licenses. More than 80% of imports and exports of Vietnam are transported by foreign shipping companies.
According to the maritime bureau, the Vietnamese fleet now has 1,689 ships with total tonnage of 7.5 million DWT. If no timely measures for the effective exploitation, the loss or massive bankruptcy of local shipping firms will be only a matter of time. – Source:Vietbiz24.com.

Tags: Bankrupt, Vietnam bankrupt, Vietnam economic growth, Vietnam economic news, Vietnam economy, Vietnam economy 2011

Posted by quynhdn on Oct 4 2011. Filed under Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry