IN Brief:
- Da Nang has approved more than VND6.2tn for additional shared infrastructure at Lien Chieu Port.
- Works include a 920-metre breakwater extension, three liquid cargo berths, 5.73km of internal roads, and railway preparation.
- The public investment is being developed alongside a separate $1.73bn container terminal programme.
Da Nang has approved more than VND6.2 trillion, approximately $237 million, of additional public investment at Lien Chieu Port, extending the shared infrastructure required to develop the site as a major cargo and logistics gateway for central Vietnam. The programme covers marine protection, liquid cargo facilities, internal roads, utilities, and preparatory work for a dedicated rail connection.
The investment policy was approved by the Da Nang People’s Council on 6 August and is scheduled for implementation between 2026 and 2030 in Hai Van Ward. Funding will come from central and municipal budgets, with the work classified as a Group A public investment project.
A further 920 metres of breakwater will be constructed, extending the 1,170-metre breakwater and seawall completed during the first phase of common infrastructure. Two liquid cargo terminals containing three berths are also planned, supporting the relocation of petroleum facilities currently operating around Da Nang Bay.
The landside programme includes approximately 5.73km of internal roads and associated technical infrastructure. Land clearance and compensation are also included for a dedicated railway between Kim Lien Station and Lien Chieu Port, alongside support for relocating three petroleum terminals and a cement terminal operated by Vicem Hai Van.
The latest approval builds on a first public-infrastructure phase valued at more than VND3.4 trillion, which began construction in late 2022 and has now been completed. The new programme therefore extends infrastructure already in place rather than starting an unrelated port scheme.
Lien Chieu is being developed through separate public and private components. The shared infrastructure is publicly financed, while the container terminal is being developed by a consortium comprising Hateco Group, Hateco Seaport, and APM Terminals. The private container project carries reported investment of approximately VND45.3 trillion, or $1.73 billion.
That split places considerable importance on sequencing. Private terminal capacity depends on access roads, navigation infrastructure, utilities, breakwaters, and other common assets being available when commercial operations expand. A container berth can only handle cargo efficiently when boxes can also enter and leave the wider port estate at a comparable rate.
The road programme addresses one part of that problem. Internal access routes have to connect individual terminals with gates, storage areas, support facilities, and external transport corridors without creating conflicts between different cargo types. As throughput increases, poorly coordinated internal traffic can become a constraint even where quay capacity remains available.
The proposed railway introduces a second landside option. Rail cannot replace road for every movement, but reserving and preparing a connection during the wider development programme gives the port the option to move larger consolidated volumes inland without relying entirely on trucks. Retrofitting a rail corridor later would be considerably harder once industrial land and terminal infrastructure were fully occupied.
The liquid cargo element also changes the use of Da Nang’s existing port estate. Petroleum terminals have different safety, storage, and handling requirements from container operations, and their relocation to dedicated facilities at Lien Chieu is intended to support the wider reorganisation of cargo activity around Da Nang Bay.
City authorities are also planning to reduce cargo activity at Tien Sa over the longer term and develop that facility increasingly around international cruise traffic. Lien Chieu therefore has to absorb more than additional container volume; it is part of a broader redistribution of maritime activity between specialised port areas.
For logistics operators, the value of that model will depend on whether the infrastructure is delivered as a connected system. Deep-water capacity can attract larger vessels, but cargo owners still require dependable gates, inland haulage, equipment availability, and storage. A port expansion that creates capacity on the water side faster than on the land side merely relocates the queue.
The timetable also places several projects on overlapping delivery paths. Public works run through 2030, while the privately backed terminal programme is proceeding separately. Construction contractors, port planners, and terminal investors will therefore have to coordinate access and commissioning around a site that is itself becoming progressively more operational.
The 6 August approval gives Da Nang a funded route to complete another substantial part of that common infrastructure. With the first phase already finished and the private container investment advancing alongside it, Lien Chieu is moving from a collection of individual port projects towards a single freight system whose performance will depend on marine and inland capacity reaching service in the right order.
