At a conference in Hanoi on February 21, Pham Duy Anh, Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications and President of the Vinalines Executive Board, said that the company plans to ship 23.4 million tonnes of cargo and handle another 39.7 million tonnes at its port facilities this year.

For this year’s target, Vinalines will build 32 vessels and spend around VND5 trillion (US$314.4 million) on buying 16 foreign ships.

Vinalines’ turnover reached VND10.5 trillion (VND660.3 million) last year, up 17 percent from 2004.

The strong performance was attributed to a sharp increase in the demand for overland and sea-born transportation. However, despite the revenue increase, overall profits rose by just two percent to VND679 billion (US$42.7 million) in the same period due to discounts on international freight charges, higher fuel costs, high maintenance expenses and new vessel purchasing costs.