Building a modern Tam Quan fishing port, leading in digital transformation

Gia Lai is determined to invest in and build Tam Quan Fishing Port into a seafood logistics center, tuna auction and trading center, a pioneer in digital transformation...

Fishing boats "afraid" to enter and exit fishing ports

According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Gia Lai, Tam Quan Fishing Port (Hoai Nhon Bac Ward) is a type II fishing port according to Decision No. 4954/QD-UBND dated December 13, 2021 of the People's Committee of the former Binh Dinh province; according to Decision No. 5014/QD-BNN-TCTS dated December 23, 2021 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment ), Tam Quan Fishing Port is designated as a fishing port with a complete system to confirm the origin of aquatic products from exploitation.

Gia Lai is determined to build Tam Quan Fishing Port into a seafood logistics center, tuna auction and trading center, and a pioneer in digital transformation. Photo: V.D.T.

Tam Quan fishing port has a total port water area of ​​10 hectares, a port channel depth of 5 meters, a port land area of ​​3.8 hectares, equipment mainly serving cargo loading and unloading, the number of fishing boats passing through the port is 20,000/year, cargo loading and unloading capacity is 40,000 tons/year, the total seafood output to the port is estimated at 20,000 tons/year.

However, according to Mr. Dang Van Dan, Acting Director of Tam Quan Fishing Port, the infrastructure of Tam Quan Fishing Port is currently degraded. The anchorage area is about 75 hectares wide, planned to anchor 1,200 ships 15m or longer, but the actual number of ships entering and leaving the port is much higher. There are 2,114 local ships over 15m long, with about 1,900 regularly anchored; in addition, there are more than 200 ships from other provinces regularly staying. If counting ships with lengths from 6-15m, there are nearly 480 more.

Not only overloaded, the silting situation of Tam Quan estuary is increasingly serious. Of the approximately 75 hectares planned for the anchorage area, only about 35 hectares are currently usable; the rest is silted up, meaningless. The silted channel has damaged many fishing boats entering and leaving the port, while the locality has not been allocated funds for regular dredging, forcing many fishing boats to dock at other ports to sell their products, reducing the revenue from logistics and commercial services of Tam Quan Fishing Port.

To ensure operations, the Tam Quan Fishing Port Management Board has mobilized more than 1 billion VND from the public for emergency dredging, both to clear the temporary channel and prevent erosion of the southern embankment. In 2025, thanks to the dredging and clearing of the channel, large-tonnage purse seine vessels were able to enter and exit the port again. Since August 2025, more than 2,200 tons of aquatic products worth over 60 billion VND have been brought to the port. However, some large-capacity fishing vessels are still afraid to enter and exit Tam Quan Fishing Port because the channel is not wide enough.

“Every month, about 1,000 ships over 15 meters long depart from Tam Quan Fishing Port, each ship spends an average of 80 million VND to buy fuel, food, and ice, which is about 80 billion VND. The value of aquatic products traded through the port every month is about 200 billion VND. The state's oil support for the local offshore fleet alone is about 500 billion VND/year. Therefore, investment in port infrastructure, especially waterways and ancillary services, directly impacts the production and business of the entire region,” Mr. Dang Van Dan shared.

Construction of modern fishing port

Gia Lai province aims to build Tam Quan fishing port into a smart fishing port and a seafood logistics center by 2030, solving overload, ensuring safety and hygiene for exploitation and trade activities; building a specialized, modern regional fishing port that meets international standards; integrating a tuna auction center and trading floor, contributing to increasing production value, attracting businesses and expanding export markets.

Gia Lai province has just implemented a project to relocate more than 2,500 fishing boats previously anchored at Quy Nhon Fishing Port and De Gi Fishing Port to Tam Quan Fishing Port; of which, there are 469 boats from Quy Nhon and 2,092 boats from De Gi. The total investment capital of the boat relocation project is estimated at about VND2,865 billion; of which, VND2,200 billion is for the construction and expansion of the fishing port and anchorage area with a scale of 95 hectares, accommodating about 2,400 boats.

The province has also allocated about 665 billion VND for policies to support relocation and stabilize fishermen's lives. Hoai Nhon Bac Ward has also prepared 30 hectares of resettlement land for affected households.

Fishing boats anchored at Tam Quan Fishing Port. Photo: V.D.T.

Gia Lai Provincial Party Secretary Thai Dai Ngoc directed: "To ensure the proposed plan, relevant sectors of the province and localities need to divide the implementation of key tasks, focusing on doing well the compensation and site clearance work to expand the space for implementing project items."

To meet the development needs, Tam Quan Fishing Port Management Board proposed to locally adjust the detailed planning at a scale of 1/500; invest in a wastewater treatment system, office building, weighing station, camera, loudspeaker, garbage storage... At the same time, it proposed to deploy an AI fishing vessel identification system to monitor and combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

“After reviewing the infrastructure of Tam Quan Fishing Port under the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, the Department has compiled investment needs including: 16.65 billion VND for purchasing and repairing equipment; 75 billion VND for investment in construction, renovation, upgrading, expansion and new construction of fishing port works and fishing logistics services. The total proposed budget for the 2026-2028 period is 91.65 billion VND, of which 31.25 billion VND is expected for 2026 alone,” said Mr. Tran Quoc Khanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Gia Lai.

Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/xay-dung-cang-ca-tam-quan-hien-dai-di-dau-chuyen-doi-so-d788069.html