Vietnam shipping company begins service to Malaysia, India

The Vietnam Maritime Corporation has launched a container shipping route to Malaysia and India.

The route from Vietnam’s Hai Phong Port to Malaysia’s Port Klang, India’s Calcutta, Port Klang, and SP-ITC International Container Terminal in HCMC takes 10 days less than foreign shippers’ itineraries, VIMC said.

It is the first time Vietnamese container ships are sailing through the Malacca Strait to the Indian Ocean to transport cargo to Malaysia and India, both large import and export markets for goods and raw materials for Vietnamese enterprises.

VIMC said it plans to expand its large-tonnage container ship fleet and operations in the region as well as globally.

Amid the Covid-19 outbreak, Vietnam’s importers and exporters have been hit by the high freight rates demanded by foreign shipping lines and finding it hard to book their services.

Freight rates to Europe and North America have surged by four to eight times to around $20,000 for a 40-foot container.

Many Vietnamese shipping companies saw profits surge in the third quarter as a result of the rising freight rates.

VIMC reported revenues of VND4.127 trillion ($179.4 million), up 71 percent year-on-year, and profits of VND760 billion, compared to a loss of nearly VND30 billion in the same quarter last year.

According to the Vietnam Maritime Administration, the country’s ports handled over 535 million tons of cargo in the first nine months of this year, a year-on-year rise of 3 percent.