As a typical business of our country and Army, Saigon Newport Corporation under the Navy has kept facilitating innovation and stepping up the performance of its economic and defence tasks to contribute to realising the Vietnam Marine Strategy and protecting the Fatherland in the new situation.

In the past 35 years of construction, operation, and maturity (since 15^th March 1989), the Corporation has always successfully fulfilled all assigned tasks and achieved robust development to become a typical business of our country and Army and greatly contribute to marine economic development and the protection of seas and islands. In recent years, in spite of numerous difficulties and challenges posed by the global economic downturn and Covid-19 pandemic, with the knowledge and zeal of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers”, the Corporation has successfully implemented its sustainable development Strategy based on three pillars¹, drastically carried out restructuring, built and brought into play “Saigon Newport Culture” in the era of international integration. As a result, Saigon Newport’s credibility and brand have been asserted both at home and abroad; the Corporation becomes Vietnam’s top port operator and logistics service provider while its port exploitation industry is currently ranked 17^th in the group of 20 container port clusters with the largest output in the world. In parallel with its production and business, the Corporation has well performed its military-defence tasks, acting as a logistics base or military port for managing and defending Vietnam’s seas, islands, and continental shelf. Also, it has conducted reconnaissance and patrols at sea, carried out military construction projects in border, sea, island areas, and taken part in defence diplomacy and search and rescue. With its remarkable achievements, the Corporation has been twice given the title of Hero of Labour (2004, 2023); it has been honoured with the title of “National Brand” in 14 consecutive years, thereby building up its glorious tradition of “unity, dynamism, creativity, successful fulfilment of defence and economic tasks”.

In the upcoming years, it is predicted that the East Sea will continue to witness destabilising factors; the economic situation on domestic and international scales will be in difficulty; competition for port exploitation and logistics services will be more intense; demands for transport will be in decline due to the global economic downturn. To overcome those challenges, remain proactive in integration, and successfully fulfil its economic and defence tasks, the Corporation continues grasping the Party’s viewpoints on combining economic development with defence and security and vice versa, while synchronously realising 3 strategic pillars as follows.

Successfully performing military-defence work is seen as a central, routine task. Amid the requirements of integration and development, the Corporation’s area of operation is increasingly expanded; military-defence work, security and order maintenance in the stationed areas and seaports as well as fire and explosion prevention and combat, labour safety, traffic safety, and maritime safety impose more demanding requirements on the Corporation; its affiliates are assigned to simultaneously maintain production, business, and readiness for BM and CV tasks. To that end, the Corporation directs its offices and units to grasp higher echelons’ resolutions and directives on military-defence work, develop and strictly implement their own military-defence work plans, and make themselves “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong. Emphasis is placed on improving cadres, soldiers, and employees’ professional competence to meet the requirements of military-defence work, production, and business. At the same time, the Corporation practically maintains combat readiness and coordination between its forces in charge of security and safety of its stationed areas, seaports, and business operations, ensuring their capacity to effectively deal with possible situations. In its training process, the Corporation attaches importance to patrol, vessel guide, and maritime technical safety assurance, while proactively cooperating with Naval Region 2 in organising training courses on BM task and sea and island protection. It also focuses on preparing and holding all-level projects-based exercises in accordance with the particularities of each port and sea, especially the crucial ones.

To build firm postures of all-people national defence and people’s security at sea, the Corporation further coordinates with local party committees and authorities to disseminate the Party’s guidelines and the State’s law and policies, particularly on seas and islands, among the people. Doing so will help raise public awareness and achieve a consensus about marine economic development associated with national sovereignty protection, thereby making contributions to defending the Fatherland’s seas and islands. The Corporation continues to effectively carry out the work of search and rescue, provide food and repair support for fishermen, protect fishermen in the strategic seas and islands from Vietnam’s Truong Sa archipelago and continental shelf. Doing so will help lay a solid foundation for fishermen to do their job and engage in protecting and asserting the national sovereignty over seas and islands. Moreover, the Corporation continues to step up movements, namely “Saigon Military Port provides fulcrum for fishermen to reach out to sea”, “Navy sponsors children of fishermen”, “joining hands in building new-style countryside; joining hands for the poor – no one will be left behind”, “paying debt of gratitude”, take care of and give presents to Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, provide support for families under preferential treatment policy and persons with meritorious service to the revolution, and help the people with hunger eradication and poverty reduction, thereby contributing to fostering economic development, maintaining social security, and building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” in each area.

To successfully implement Resolution 36-NQ/TW, dated 22^nd October 2018, by the 12^th Party Central Committee on “Strategy for sustainable development of Vietnam’s marine economy towards 2030 with a vision towards 2045”, the Corporation concentrates on raising the effectiveness of production and business under the motto of “three-increase and three-enhancement²”, striving to achieve 3% and 5% increases in its economic targets and profits respectively. For the sake of “three-increase”, the Corporation advocates increasing its whole-of-system productivity and efficiency, while flexibly applying business and production projects and policies to attract customers and shipping lines to its seaports. Measures are developed to maximise the whole-of-port exploitation capacity, such as upgrading and dredging Tan Cang – Cat Lai and Tan Cang – Hai Phong terminals to receive 55,000-ton vessels and 50,000-ton vessels respectively. The Corporation devotes efforts to implementing the Project on Digital Transformation between 2023 and 2025, with a vision towards 2030 in order to modernise the Terminal Operation System (TOS) by applying artificial intelligence, utilising the development of plans, and employing automation technology for handing over and receiving containers. It concentrates on formulating and completing systems-related policies with port services acting as the core, encouraging business links to create the competitiveness among its affiliates, particularly promoting the role of Tan Cang Hai Phong international container terminal and other inland ones in the North. It also innovates its technologies for logistics service management and operation, enhances its supply capacity, and conducts campaigns to extend the service chain in the areas of Tan Cang – Long Binh, Tan Cang – Song Than, Tan Cang – Mekong Delta towards the expansion of its market in Cambodia and Laos. Furthermore, it considers expanding comprehensive cooperation with shipping lines to fully exploit empty container depots and yards, thereby helping achieve the logistics service chain. At the same time, it well realises “three-enhancement”, with a focus on enhancing the implementation of its approved major projects, continuing to enhance procedures for projects based on its 5-year strategy and supplement potential projects, particularly projects on deep water ports, enhancing the realisation of feasible items in memoranda of understanding on cooperation with its partners. It also adopts breakthrough measures to reform formalities, standardise, systematise, and complete its regulations, documents, reports, and administrative procedures, and remove improper, impractical procedures and intermediate steps to save time and costs. It focuses on building the ecosystem “Portnet – eSNP” by comprehensively upgrading its e-Port system. In the short term, within 2024, it carries out 15 major projects on information technology, with significance attached to port exploitation, logistics services, and business administration, while implementing its “Greening Plan” in three role models, namely Tan Cang – Cat Lai international container terminal, Tan Cang – Cai Mep Thi Vai terminal, and Tan Cang – Hai Phong international container terminal.

Towards the goal of sustainable development, the Corporation attaches importance to building high-calibre human resources. To that end, offices and units within the Corporation strictly adhere to regulations and procedures for personnel work to build a contingent of cadres at all levels with sufficient qualities, capacity, and prestige. The Corporation also promotes the role and responsibility of party committees, party committee secretaries, and leaders in detecting, training, and cultivating cadres as successive leaders and managers as well as associates an increase in personnel with the raised quality of human resources in a “specialised, practical, professional” manner. In this regard, great value is attached to detecting high-quality human resources in particular fields, such as maritime navigation, port exploitation, logistics service, information technology, automation technology. The Corporation continues to diversify forms of training and cultivation, closely combine domestic training with overseas training, focus on new specialities, and train its personnel via the performance of their tasks. At the same time, the Corporation encourages self-study among its staff to master science, technology, modern equipment, and domains of production and business. Due regard is paid to implementing policies to attract high-calibre human resources as the basis for building a pool of cadres with sufficient capabilities in performing economic and defence tasks, enabling the Corporation to achieve new developments and position and deserve to be a top marine economic and logistics business of Vietnam and a role model in combining economic development with defence and security, making contributions to successfully fulfilling the cause of Fatherland construction and protection.

Sr. Col. NGO MINH THUAN

Director – General of the Corporation

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1. First, performing military-defence tasks. Second, stepping up investment, production, and business. Third, building “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong units.

2. Three-increase: increase in terminals’ capacity, increase in network connection, increase in administration efficiency. Three-enhancement: enhancement of cooperation and investment, enhancement of administrative reform, enhancement of digitalisation and greening.