Promoting the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers - Naval soldiers” in the field of production and business, over the years, the Saigon Newport Corporation has always proactively, creatively, successfully fulfilled its task of economic development in line with the defence of the Homeland’s sacred sea and island sovereignty.

As an economic-defence enterprise, Saigon Newport Corporation has always successfully fulfilled its military, defence, production, and business missions and cooperated with other forces in defending the Homeland’s sacred sea and island sovereignty. On the economic front, the Corporation has become the most modern, professional and biggest container terminal operator in Vietnam. The import-export container throughput of SNP has accounted for 93.6% of the market share in Ho Chi Minh city area and 54% nationwide. The Corporation’s cluster of terminals has ranked 20^th in the world. The Corporation is a role model of proactive integration into the world and effective business for other economic-defence businesses to follow. With its remarkable achievements, the Corporation was given the title of Labour Hero in the renewal period and many other noble awards by the State. Those achievements have been attributed to the close, comprehensive leadership and direction by the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence, and particularly the Navy’s Party Committee and High Command. The Corporation’s Party Committee and Board of Directors have grasped the Party’s defence-military guidelines, closely combined economic development with defence-security consolidation, and taken various drastic, creative measures in accordance with the Corporation’s function and task, thereby meeting the increasingly high requirements for protecting the national sovereignty over seas and islands, contributing to turning Vietnam into a marine powerhouse.

First of all, the Corporation has considered the efficiency of production and business as the basis for improving its defence-military capacity to defending seas and islands. Marine economic development would provide a material basis for enhancing defence-security power and defending sea and island sovereignty; the firm protection of sea and island sovereign would, in turn, create a favourable, safe environment for the marine economic sustainable development. Fully aware of this, the Corporation has enhanced the exploitation of seaports, logistics services, and marine transportation as its three cornerstones. It has also focused on constructing modern facilities, applying technology to its management and operation, gradually digitalising its procedures, and exploiting big data and artificial intelligence in line with the 4^th industrial revolution. Regarding marine transportation, in spite of the intense competition from other foreign shipping companies possessing large, modern fleets, the Corporation has been determined to step by step make up 25% of the market share of transportation in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Ships with the national flags of Vietnam have realised the Party’s strategy for developing marine economy. Those tireless efforts have enabled the Corporation to achieve rapid, sustainable growth, at about 20% on a yearly basis. In 2019, the Corporation’s revenue was 23,105 billion VND, a 7.5% increase compared to 2018. Its profit was 3,112 billion VND, increasing by 13.6%. The export and import taxation gained via the Corporation’s terminals and ICDs was more than 80,000 billion VND. Also in 2019, the Corporation reached a historic milestone when it received the 5,000,000^th container on December 17^th; the export and import taxation collected via its Cat Lai Terminal was over 73,786 billion VND, accounting for 18% of Ho Chi Minh city’s total revenue.

The Corporation’s system of military ports and logistics-technical bases in the country’s strategic economic-defence areas, such as Ho Chi Minh city, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Khanh Hoa and An Giang provinces, and Hai Phong city have facilitated both the economic development in peacetime and the task of defending the national sovereignty over seas and islands in the event. Notably, in recent years, the Corporation has put the International Port of Cam Ranh, which is the largest logistics-technical service centre for aircraft carriers and warships in the Southeast Asia, into operation. The Port would serve the purpose of economic development and perform the work of military diplomacy, thereby contributing to creating advantages and strength for the country to firmly protect its seas and islands.

In addition to business and production, the Corporation has directly taken part in managing and defending the Homeland’s seas, islands, and continental shelf. Its specialised forces have frequently conducted patrols to grasp the situation in the areas of their responsibility, while resolutely, persistently cooperating with other forces in fighting against foreign ships’ violations of Vietnam’s territorial sovereignty and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and firmly safeguarding the national sovereignty over seas and islands. At the same time, they have navigated and towed ships away, provided logistics services for units at sea, constructed works on islands, taken part in search and rescue, and transported delegations to the Truong Sa Islands and the DK1 Platform. Recently, the Corporation has built and put fisheries logistics service centres in the strategic positions into operation. Typical example is the Centre of Dock and Fishing Village, which has operated really effectively, opportunely conducted search and rescue operations, provided food and drinking water for fishers, repaired fishing vessels, helped and protected Vietnamese fishers in the key, strategic seas and on the Truong Sa islands. Doing so has enabled fishers to keep their mind on their work and take part in defending the Homeland’s seas and islands.

The launch of the programme for giving assistance to fishers in their work

To build firm postures of all-people national defence and people’s security at sea, the Corporation has proactively cooperated with local party committees and authorities in its stationed areas in conducting the work of propagation to encourage the people and fishers to implement the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policy and law, particularly on seas and islands as well as raise their awareness and achieve a sense of consensus within the society about economic development associated with the defence of national sovereignty over seas and islands. In addition, the Corporation has effectively carried out the Movement entitled “the Military Port of Saigon joins hands in the construction of new-style countryside and for the poor - no one will be left behind,” actively taken part in the “Gratitude Movement,” taken care of 45 Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, given financial support to families under the preferential treatment policy and people with meritorious services, and helped the people with hunger eradication, poverty reduction and natural disaster prevention and mitigation, thereby making great contributions to boosting localities’ economic development, consolidating and building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds.”

In the upcoming time, to meet the requirements set by the defence-military task and the defence of national sovereignty over seas and islands, the Corporation will focus on the main measures as follows.

First, the Corporation will frequently grasp and execute the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policy and law on combining economic development with defence-security consolidation. Doing so will enable the Corporation to achieve rapid but sustainable development. Offices and units within the Corporation will render their cadres, soldiers, employees and workers fully aware of the significance and importance of combining economic development with defence-security consolidation. A focus will be placed on introducing the Central Military Commission’s Resolution 150-NQ/ĐUQSTW on “the Military’s participation in economic development and defence-security consolidation in the strategic areas” and the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution 36-NQ/TW on “the Strategy for the sustainable marine economic development of Vietnam towards 2030, with a vision towards 2045.”

Second, the Corporation will keep raising its competitiveness, expanding its investment and business, and making itself economically capable of performing the defence-security task and defending the national sovereignty over seas and islands. It will continue developing its “three cornerstones,” renewing its business administration, build high-quality human resources, modernising its facilities, and formulating measures for increasing its competitiveness. Moreover, it will keep expanding its markets and improving its services for seas and islands, particularly its logistics-technical services for the area of Truong Sa Islands to make contributions to realising the Strategy for the sustainable marine economic development of Vietnam towards 2030, with a vision towards 2045.

Third, it will successfully fulfil the defence-military task. The Corporation will strictly execute the directives and missions assigned by the Navy, build strong party organisations and command systems, with personnel playing a decisive role and weapons and equipment acting as an important factor. Additionally, it will always maintain combat readiness and grasp the situation in the seas of its responsibility to avoid falling into passivity. It will train its forces to master and utilise weapons and equipment and enhance their capacity to conduct patrols, safeguard national sovereignty and security, and ensure safety for marine economic operations. It will continue to achieve a breakthrough in improving the command, staff, and combat capability and the effectiveness of controlling and managing seas, while participating in military diplomacy events of the Party, the State, the Military, and the Navy at the International Port of Tan Cang - Cam Ranh in 2020 and cooperating with other forces in ensuring security and safety of seaports.

Fourth, the Corporation will raise the quality of propagation on seas and islands, actively take part in the work of social welfare and local economic development, and build a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds.” It will effectively carry out the gratitude movement, participate in hunger eradication and poverty reduction, and combine economic development with social welfare. Besides, it will expand fishing villages, build groups of fishing vessels, and well implement the work of search and rescue.

Bringing into play the recorded achievements, cadres and employees of the Saigon Newport Corporation will keep devoting efforts to turning the Corporation into Vietnam’s top economic-defence enterprise in the fields of marine economy and logistics services in line with constructing and developing the Economic - Defence Zone of Truong Sa. At the same time, the Corporation will continue closely combining economic development with defence-security consolidation to contribute to realising the Party’s Strategy for the sustainable marine economic development of Vietnam towards 2030, with a vision towards 2045.

Captain Ngo Minh Thuan, General Director of the Corporation