Press Release:
On April 16, 2020, SP-SSA International Terminal (SSIT) successfully welcomed the M/V CONTI CRYSTAL, a direct container service to North America belonging to THE Alliance, whose members include Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express (ONE), Yang Ming, and HMM.
The M/V CONTI CRYSTAL is one of eight vessels in the PN2 service, which connects Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries to Western North America, specifically Tacoma, Washington, USA, and Vancouver, BC. The MV CONTI CRYSTAL, owned by Yang Ming Shipping Lines, has a capacity of more than 8,000 teu’s (1 teu = twenty-foot equivalent unit), 106,000 DWT (deadweight tons), and a vessel length of 334 meters. The first call of the PN2 service at SSIT has completed the loading and unloading of 1,232 containers.
“SSIT greatly appreciates the trust displayed by THE Alliance in bringing large container vessels to SSIT for cargo handling, thus promoting increasingly prosperous trade relations between Vietnam, the United States, and Canada. With additional requests from major carriers of the world, SSIT has been and will continue to work with relevant government agencies to support large vessels calling Vietnam, including Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCV’s) with capacities of 18,000+ teu’s, which support a reduction in costs per unit for the carriers. SSIT will continuously strive to further improve its service quality, being one of the largest deep-sea terminals in the country, making an important contribution to the development of the Cai Mep and Vietnam seaport system”, said Mr. Nguyen Le Chon Tam, General Director of SSIT. Under the new agreement between SSIT and THE Alliance, the PN2 service’s vessels will call weekly at SSIT. In addition, SSIT receives several weekly intra-Asia calls from MSC, connecting Vietnam with other Asian countries.”
SP-SSA International Terminal (SSIT) is a deep-sea terminal located in Cai Mep Thi Vai, Ba Ria Vung Tau province. SSIT is a joint venture established in 2006 between SSA Marine, Seattle, Washington USA and the two Vietnamese companies, Vinalines and Saigon Port. Located in the downstream area of Cai Mep, SSIT was built to operate large container vessels and is equipped with modern container handling equipment, including the largest STS cranes in Vietnam, a land area of 60 hectares and 600 meters of berth length. In addition, SSIT also has 445 meters of specialized berth for handling barges connecting export and import goods from ICDs (Inland Container Depots), ports in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai and Binh Duong areas with Cai Mep area.
SSIT started bulk operations in October 2014; as demand for container capacity increased, in June 2018 SSIT welcomed the first container vessel and entered a new phase of both bulk and container operations. Despite the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the Vietnamese and global economies, SSIT welcomes this weekly service to North America, showing the great efforts of SSIT members and the support of the carriers. In addition, SSIT highly appreciates the great support of the Ministry of Transport, Vietnam Maritime Administration and Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province as well as government agencies and departments.
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