Floating dock left in Cam Ranh sold to US firm
Wednesday, October 10, 2012, 12:29 GMT+7
The US$11.5 million floating Venture Dock 2, which was left rusted and severely deteriorated in Cam Ranh Bay in Khanh Hoa central province for more than four years, has been finally sold to a US partner through a border-gate transfer, said a local customs official.
>> $11.5-mln floating dock left rusted in Cam Ranh
Ho Chi Minh City-based Long Son Shipping & Trading Joint Stock Company, the dock’s owner, is carrying out necessary procedures to move it to the US.
Under the Article 30 border-gate transfer of Vietnamese commercial law*, Long Son Co. is not required to carry out formalities for the import and export of the dock, according to Nguyen Thanh Son, an official from the province’s Customs Agency.
But Son added that to deliver the dock to the US, the owner has to pay a debt of VND1.7 billion to Nha Trang’s port authorities.
Long Son Co. purchased the piece of equipment from Singapore for $11.5 million under a temporary import and re-export plan four years ago, confirmed Tran Thi Hien, the company’s director.
The Venture Dock 2 is seen on Cam Ranh Bay. Photo: Tuoi Tre
The 166.5-m Venture Dock 2, with a capacity of 12,000 tons, arrived in Cam Ranh Bay on August 9, 2008, according to the provincial customs’ file.
The floating dock was built in Indonesia in 1999, but was registered as Mongolian despite its Singaporean owner.
However, according to a document released on April 28, 2011 by the Ba Ngoi Port Customs in Cam Ranh City, the floating dock is under the management of Viet Hai Shipping and Real Properties Corporation (VSP), based in HCMC.
VSP is the successor of the Vinashin Petroleum Investment and Transport JSC, or Shinpetrol, which was established in 2002. Debt-stricken Vinashin held a 40 percent stake of the company, which bought the floating dock for ship repairs.
A chief official from Cam Ranh Shipyard Co Ltd, another subsidiary of Vinashin, said VSP had planned to cooperate with his company to put the Venture Dock 2 floating dock into operation at Cam Ranh shipyard plant in 2010.
But the People’s Committee of Khanh Hoa Province turned down the plan out of concern for environmental pollution in 2011.
*Article 30 Border gate transfer of goods
1. A border-gate transfer of goods means the act of purchasing goods from one country or territory in order to sell the goods to another country or territory outside the territory of Vietnam without conducting procedures for import into Vietnam and for export out of Vietnam.
2. A border-gate transfer of goods shall be conducted in the following forms:
(a) Transportation of goods directly from the exporting country to the importing country without passing through the border-gates of Vietnam;
(b) Transportation of goods from the exporting country to the importing country via the border-gates of Vietnam but without conducting procedures for import into Vietnam and for export out of Vietnam;
(c) Transportation of goods from the exporting country to the importing country via the border-gates of Vietnam and bringing the goods into bonded warehouses or into goods transit areas of Vietnam’s ports but without conducting procedures for import into Vietnam and for export out of Vietnam.
3. The Government shall provide detailed regulations on activities of border-gate transfer of goods.
Source: vietlaw
