Loading and unloading are carried out at fast pace at Chan May Port

Chan May Port has just accommodated YI SHUN 89, a Mongolian cargo ship, arriving from the Philippines, to pick up exported cassava chips. The vessel carries18 crew members, including nine Chinese and nine Myanmar.

Before the arrival of the watercraft, the Chan May Port had coordinated with the provincial Maritime Port Authority to notify the provincial Center for Disease Control (CDC) to mobilize forces and resources to perform the quarantine for all crew members and the disinfection of the vessel.

Mr. Nguyen Van Chuong, Deputy General Director of Chan May Port Joint Stock Company, said that quarantine of imported ships is done right from the pilot station (buoy No.0). The corresponding shipping agent is responsible for arranging vehicles at the request of the CDC to quarantine the ship as well as for notifying the vessel’ captain of the steps to follow.

All crew members must have their body temperature checked. If no one is found to have signs of infection, the ship will be escorted to the wharf. Relevant management units shall assist the cargo ship to carry out entry procedures right onboard and at the same time ensure that only a restricted number of duty members are allowed to disembark to perform essential procedures and work.

In 2020, given the dynamic market change and COVID – 19 pandemic’s development, Chan May Port Joint Stock Company had built up its scenarios to cope with impacts on the port’s operation by setting up a steering committee for pandemic prevention and control according to the direction of the chairman of the provincial People’s Committee. Accordingly, the unit has coordinated well with the Thua Thien Hue Maritime Port Authority, CDC and the Border Guard Station of Chan May Port to implement effectively the pandemic prevention plans at the port.

According to Mr. Tran Dao Phong, Head of the International Health Quarantine Department of CDC, regarding import and export cargo ships, the quarantine has been strictly conducted, including controlling the source of infection from goods and foods coming from and to the vessels. All navigators, officers, border guards, and CDC members before boarding the quarantined ship ought to wear protective equipment to avoid the risks of infection.

During the quarantine process, if someone is suspected to have contracted the coronavirus, the person must be isolated on the ship and then transferred to Hue Central Hospital by a special-use vehicle for isolation and treatment. For ships with infected crew members anchoring at the pilot station, they must not dock the port for surveillance in 14 days. In this case, if the ship does not propose the need to stay, necessary procedures will be handled so that the ship could leave the port.

To ensure isolation when an infection is discovered, the port has set up an isolated room of 25 squared meters and an outdoor container designed into a long-term accommodation room with guaranteed epidemiological hygiene as directed to enable prompt response if incidents occur. The port also regularly updates and disseminates personal protective measures for its employees; coordinates with specialized agencies to implement measures to strictly control people and vehicles entering and leaving the port, especially for import and export units.

Major Le Van Tien, Head of Chan May Port Border Guard Station, shared that the information about the ship together with the number of crew members is updated by the unit via the ADSL transmission line, helping the force to actively review and compare it with the list of personnel previously approved. The procedure team of the unit approaches the ship right at buoy No. 0 to carry out required steps as quickly as possible so that the cargo ship could then be accommodated.

Mr. Pham Ba Hung, a staff member of Da Nang Import Export Company which is a regular trader at Chan May port, said that the strict prevention measures have received the full support of the enterprises, including his, as they are important to the safety of the community. The implementation of the quarantine procedures does not cost much time either cause major difficulties and obstacles and the clearance procedures have been handled quickly. This is what should be done for the time being.

What Chan May Port Joint Stock Company has done in running the strict deployment of medical quarantine protocols, transportation and arrangement of import and export goods, monitoring entry and exit of people and vehicles at the seaport is based on the principle of creating as much favorableness as possible and speeding up trading activities. Thanks to that, the imported and exported goods via the port in the first quarter of the year reached 600,000 tons, showing a slight decrease of 10% compared to the same period of the last year, at the same time the requirements of COVID-19 pandemic control and prevention have been strictly and comprehensively met.

From the beginning of February until now, Chan May Port has welcomed 24 ships. Amongst them, two are tourist cruisers and the rest are cargo vessels. The majority of imported goods are coal and asphalt while the popular exported ones are wood chips, clinkers, etc. Chan May Port temporarily does not receive cruise ships as a measure to curb the spread of the disease.

By Ba Tri