The vessels with loa up to 205m will be permitted to navigate to and from Cat Lai port during night time from 01 june 2008

In the afternoon of May, 19th 2008, the meeting on permitting vessels with longer LOA to navigate on Dong Nai River and Long Tau channel during night time was held in Ho Chi Minh City. Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hue – Vice Director of Vinamarine presided the meeting. The meeting was attended by the representatives of Vinamarine, Saigon Harbour Authority (SHA), Pilot Company –zone 1, Saigon Newport (SNP) and the relating bodies. On May, 28, 2008, the Vinamarine submitted the official document No 949/CHHVN-PC to the Ministry of Transport (MOT) which proposed MOT to assign the SHA to take charge of the piloting navigation of the vessels having LOA of up to 205 metres to and from Cat Lai port during the night time. Regarding the subject, the MOT has officially issued Document No 4397/BGTVT-KHDT dated June 9, 2008 to give the instruction and approval to the aforementioned proposal of Vinamarine.

Accordingly, since June 1, 2008, the vessels having LOA up to 205 m would be able to navigate to and from Cat Lai Port during night time. The piloting navigation will be implemented from June 1, 2008 to November 30, 2008. After the pilot time, the involved parties will report to Vinamarine and MOT for futher decision. SNP is responsible for the close coordination with the Pilot Company and Saigon Harbour Authority to ensure the navigation safety for the vessels calling at and depart from Cat Lai Port.