6-month suspension approved for Nha Trang int’l tourism port for upgrade

The administration of Khanh Hoa Province in south-central Vietnam has passed a proposal according to which the aging Nha Trang international tourism port, located in the provincial capital city of Nha Trang, will suspend operations for around six months to undergo renovation.

The port will stop receiving domestic passenger vessels during the six-month period, Nguyen Van Dan, director of the provincial Department of Transport, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The provincial administration asked Nha Trang Port JSC, the port operator, to inform relevant travel agencies of the suspension and work out a port renovation plan for submission to the Vietnam Maritime Administration.

The port still receives international tourist ships during the suspension period, as proposed by the transport department.

The Maritime Administration of Nha Trang City and Nha Trang Port Company were told to jointly adopt measures to ensure public safety, security, and hygiene in the port area to serve international visitors during the renovation hiatus.

International cruise ships are too big to enter the port, therefore smaller boats are used to transport cruise passengers to the port. Photo: Tran Huong / Tuoi Tre

International cruise ships are too big to enter the port, therefore smaller boats are used to transport cruise passengers to the port. Photo: Tran Huong / Tuoi Tre

According to the company’s proposal to upgrade the port, many facilities there have severely deteriorated and thereby posed a risk of accidents since the port was put into service in 2013.

As it was originally designated as a commodity port, its infrastructure system failed to satisfy the needs of tourists after it was transformed into an international tourism port, the company elaborated on why it is in need of renovation.

Echoing the company’s viewpoint, the provincial Department of Tourism stressed the need to upgrade the port to better service international visitors.

In 1976, the Ministry of Transport decided to establish Nha Trang-Ba Ngoi Port.

In 1985, the port operator borrowed loans offered by a domestic credit institution to build a 172m-long and 10,000-DWT wharf, whose work reached completion in 1991.

In 1997, the Ministry of Transport approved a project upgrading the port’s phase one until 2002.

The upgraded port came on stream on December 26, 2013.

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