On July 28th, 2021, the Government issued Decree No. 76/2021/ND-CP guiding on the criteria used to classify seaports (hereinafter referred to as “Decree 76/2021”).
Pursuant to Decree 76/2021, the competent State authorities will depend on the criteria on the scope of influence and the criteria on the scale to assess and classify seaports in Vietnam.
Based on the master plan on development of the seaport system approved by the competent state agency, the criteria on the scope of influence of seaports are assessed through the following targets: Seaports serving the socio-economic development of the country or the interregional area and having the function of international transshipment, or an international gateway port; seaports serving the socio-economic development of the country or the interregional area; seaports serving the socio-economic development of the region; seaports serving the local socio-economic development.
Based on the tonnage of goods transported and the tonnage of ships approved at the seaport, the criteria on the scale of a seaport are assessed through the following targets: Tonnage of cargo transported through the seaport; tonnage of ships approved at the seaport.
Simultaneously, the assessment and classification of seaports will be carried out according to the method of scoring on a 100-point scale. The scoring scale used to evaluate is specified for each criterion. Based on the assessment results, seaports will be classified into 04 types:
- Special seaport: with a total score of over 90 points;
- Class I seaports: with a total score of over 70 points to 90 points;
- Class II seaport: with a total score of 50 to 70 points;
- Class III seaports: with a total score of fewer than 50 points.
The Decree clearly stipulates that every 5 years in January of the first year, or based on the actual development situation at the seaport, the Vietnam Maritime Administration shall make a list of the seaports, assessment and classification of seaports and submit it to the Ministry of Transport.
Based on the report of the Vietnam Maritime Administration, the Ministry of Transport shall collect opinions from the ministries, the People’s Committees of the provinces and central cities and relevant agencies, organize the appraisal, and submit them to the Prime Minister for a decision on classifying seaports and announcing the list of seaports.
This Decree takes effect from September 10th, 2021.
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