IN Brief:
- CMIT and TCTT began commercial operations at their shared Cai Mep–Thi Vai berth on 9 October.
- The connected berth provides 1,200 metres of continuous waterfront for coordinated vessel handling.
- The arrangement builds on infrastructure and operating agreements developed since May 2024.
Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) and Tan Cang–Cai Mep Thi Vai Terminal (TCTT) have begun commercial operations at a shared container berth in Vietnam’s Cai Mep–Thi Vai port cluster. Announced on 9 October, the arrangement connects two neighbouring deep-water facilities into a continuous 1,200-metre berth and establishes a jointly coordinated approach to handling vessel calls. It is a change in how existing waterfront infrastructure is operated, rather than an announcement of two separate terminal expansion projects.
The terminals had already been working together for more than two years. They opened an internal connecting gate and signed a cooperation memorandum on 24 May 2024, then developed the practical arrangements needed to operate across a shared boundary. Those arrangements covered berth connectivity, vessel planning, equipment placement, labour allocation, safety responsibilities and maritime coordination. The commercial opening moves that preparatory programme into day-to-day port operations, where scheduling and equipment movements have to work reliably under live cargo volumes.
A container vessel uses a berth for much more than the period during which its mooring lines are secured. Quay cranes have to be assigned to the ship, containers need to move between the waterfront and storage areas, and yard transport must remain aligned with the crane work programme. When neighbouring terminals work independently, an available section of quay at one facility does not necessarily relieve a berth constraint next door. Connecting the waterfront and coordinating planning can create more options when an arriving vessel does not fit neatly within a single terminal’s preferred allocation.
The joint berth has been designed to accommodate large international container ships and respond more flexibly to changes in sailing schedules. Its continuous frontage can support different vessel combinations, while the operational teams decide which cranes, transport vehicles and workers should be assigned to each call. A longer connected berth does not by itself guarantee faster turnaround. The usable gains depend on safe crane positioning, adequate yard capacity, access routes and the ability to keep work programmes coordinated between the operators. Those are among the areas covered by the cooperation developed before commercial opening.
Industry reporting has cited an estimated 30–40 per cent capacity improvement at each terminal, equivalent to roughly 400,000–500,000 additional TEU a year per facility. Those figures should be treated as projections associated with the combined operating model, not as achieved throughput measured after the opening. Actual volumes will depend on shipping line demand, vessel mix, equipment productivity and the extent to which the terminals can convert available berth slots into completed cargo moves. No post-opening operating series was supplied alongside the launch.
The choice of cooperation over entirely separate construction is important in a busy deep-water port cluster. Container handling capacity can be constrained at several points at once. A port may have an available berth but insufficient yard space, or the cranes needed for a particular ship may be committed to another call. Equally, yard capacity can sit unused when vessels arrive in clusters or schedules change. A common planning framework gives the operators a means of reallocating resources across the adjoining facilities, although it also makes consistent procedures and information exchange more important.
CMIT and TCTT say the arrangement will improve their ability to serve larger ships and international liner networks. Both terminals operate within the Cai Mep–Thi Vai maritime gateway, where the punctual handling of mainline vessels is closely connected to feeder movements, inland haulage and export production schedules. Cargo owners may benefit when the terminal cluster can absorb irregular arrivals without pushing delays into onward transport. The extent of any improvement will become clearer from berth utilisation, vessel waiting time and container throughput once operations have been established over several months.
The opening involved support from terminal shareholders and Vietnamese maritime and public authorities, as well as operating cooperation between the two terminal teams. That matters because shared berth operations require agreed responsibilities at the water’s edge, including vessel movements and emergency procedures, alongside commercial questions about resource use. The project establishes a working example of connected terminal infrastructure within the port cluster. Its commercial performance, rather than the headline length of the quay alone, will determine whether the model can support sustained increases in cargo-handling capacity.
