What does the Vietnamese fleet need to reach the open sea?

Businesses invest heavily

In early 2025, at a meeting between member units of Vietnam National Shipping Lines ( VIMC ), the fleet development plan was opened on the screen: 11 bulk carriers, 6 container ships, 4 oil tankers - numbers enough to show the ambition to rejuvenate the fleet of Vietnam National Shipping Lines.

What does the Vietnamese fleet need to reach the open sea? - Photo 1.

Investing in and developing the fleet to meet transportation needs and international trends is increasingly urgent.

According to business leaders, every detail of the plan is scrutinized. Because just a small change can change the entire investment financial flow.

Not only VIMC, recently, many shipping companies have also increased the speed of upgrading their fleets. In particular, Hai An Transport and Stevedoring Joint Stock Company has just received the container ship Haian Iris, bringing the total number of container ships to 18.

In the large-tonnage ship segment, Viet Thuan Transport Company Limited has launched a project to build 8 new international ships with no restrictions, with a total investment of more than VND 2,600 billion, determined to enter offshore shipping routes.

PV Trans – a large oil and gas transport company also plans to invest 3,525 billion VND in its fleet this year. The investment portfolio is wide ranging: from MR product tankers, bulk carriers, Aframax crude oil tankers, to LNG/VLGC gas tankers. Last year alone, the company added 8 new ships.

Fleet capacity barriers

However, behind those grand investment plans is a general picture that has not really improved. According to statistics by the end of August 2025, the Vietnamese shipping fleet has more than 1,400 ships, with a total tonnage of about 9.4 million DWT and a total capacity of more than 5.8 million GT.

Of these, 933 are cargo ships, with a total tonnage of 8.2 million DWT. Although the average tonnage has increased from 6,000 to 8,900 DWT/ship, the average annual growth rate is only 4.8% and the market share of the Vietnamese fleet still only holds 0.8% of the global fleet.

In 2022, the Project on Developing Vietnam's Maritime Transport Fleet was approved, with the expectation of increasing the market share of import-export cargo transport by Vietnamese ships to 10% by 2026. However, after three years of implementation, the results have only reached an average of 7.3%/year - a large gap compared to the target.

Mr. Hoang Hong Giang, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Maritime and Waterways Administration, said that many policies have been adjusted to create favorable conditions for businesses. Notably, Decree 247/2025 allows the age of container ships to be extended to 17 years in some special cases; changes the way to calculate the age of ships based on the delivery date, helping businesses to be more flexible in investment.

However, the biggest barrier is not the procedures, but the fact that the capacity of Vietnam's fleet is increasing too slowly compared to the market.

While the volume of goods passing through seaports increases by over 10% per year, the Vietnamese fleet only increases by 0.91% per year. On the contrary, international shipping lines increase their fleets by 3.15% per year, continuously adding large tonnage vessels to operate on global routes.

Therefore, although the Vietnamese fleet handles almost the entire domestic market, when entering the international arena, Vietnamese businesses immediately face disadvantages: small ships, short routes, lack of service network, lack of complete supply chain, high operating costs.

Restrictions on access to long-term credit, interest rates, and the complexity of procedures for investing in ships using state capital also make it more difficult for businesses to compete.

Competition is not just about buying ships

A business leader shared that there are shipbuilding projects that drag on for years simply because of inconsistent appraisal procedures and technical requirements. When the project is approved, the world price of materials and ships has changed, forcing the entire financial plan to be redone.

In addition, the Vietnam Maritime Administration said that the Vietnamese fleet still lacks high-quality crew members, especially human resources that meet the standards for operating ships using new fuels such as LNG or methanol - standards that are becoming the "green passport" of world maritime transport.

Vietnamese businesses are almost left empty-handed in the international container transport market – a field where foreign shipping lines have formed huge global networks, investing from seaports, logistics to mother ships and daughter ships.

Faced with that situation, Mr. Do Tien Duc, member of the Board of Directors of VIMC, said that in order for the Vietnamese fleet to develop sustainably, especially in the green transformation trend, the State needs to issue specific, practical and strong incentive policies.

Among them, key solutions include: Preferential long-term credit for enterprises building new green ships; Exemption from import tax, VAT, corporate income tax for LNG, methanol, and hybrid ships; Exemption from import tax on green technology equipment and materials that Vietnam cannot yet produce; Building a model of a key maritime transport enterprise with international competitiveness...

The leader of the Vietnam Maritime and Waterways Administration said that he is studying the unification of the Maritime Code and the Inland Waterway Traffic Law to eliminate overlaps, create a unified legal corridor and meet the requirements of multimodal transport.

Ship registration, flag transfer, and licensing procedures are also being strongly digitized to shorten time and reduce costs for businesses.

According to Decree 247/2025 amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 171/2016 of the Government on registration, deregistration, purchase, sale and construction of new ships, the age limit for ships registered in Vietnam, the age of used ships, submarines, submersibles, floating storage units, and mobile platforms flying foreign flags when registered in Vietnam shall not exceed 10 years for passenger ships, submarines, and submersibles; not exceed 15 years for other types of ships, floating storage units, and mobile platforms.

Special cases decided by the Minister of Construction are no more than 17 years for container ships with a capacity of 1,500 TEUs or more; no more than 20 years for the following types of ships: chemical carriers, liquefied gas carriers, oil carriers or floating storage vessels...

Construction Newspaper

Source: https://vimc.co/doi-tau-viet-can-gi-de-vuon-ra-bien-lon/