The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has officially approved a consortium comprising Vietnam Maritime Corporation, Saigon Port Joint Stock Company, and Terminal Investment Limited (TIL), a subsidiary of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), as the recommended developer for the Can Gio project. This decision marks a pivotal step forward in Vietnam's ambition to establish a regional international maritime hub.

Under the terms of the approval, TIL will hold a 49 percent equity stake in the project. Total investment for the development is estimated at $4.9 billion, encompassing a site area of nearly 571 hectares, with a planned total quay wall length of approximately 7.5 kilometers. By 2030, the port is projected to achieve an annual throughput capacity of 4.8 million TEUs, with potential expansion to 16.9 million TEUs by 2047.

Development of the Can Gio port will be executed in phases according to the master plan. By 2030, the facility is expected to feature between two and four berths, offering a total quay length of 1 to 2 kilometers. These berths will be capable of accommodating ultra-large container vessels of up to 250,000 deadweight tonnes and 24,000 TEU capacity. At that stage, annual throughput capacity is projected to range from 22.8 million to 57 million tonnes of cargo, equivalent to 2.4 million to 4.8 million TEUs. Looking further ahead to 2050, the port is planned to expand to approximately 13 berths to accommodate long-term growth in international container transshipment demand and to support the sustained increase in regional import and export volumes.

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has stipulated that the investors must strictly adhere to the investment policy approved by the Prime Minister of Vietnam on January 16 of this year. The new port facility must serve international transshipment requirements while simultaneously catering to Vietnam's domestic import and export cargo needs, and its operations must not adversely impact the normal functioning of neighboring ports. To ensure the successful execution of the project, the investors are prohibited from transferring the project within ten years of receiving the land and water area allocation. A minimum of $1.9 billion in capital must be deployed within the first decade, and the full scope of construction works must be completed within a twenty-year timeframe.

As one of the world's largest container shipping lines, MSC currently operates multiple services calling at Vietnam, connecting major container gateways including Haiphong in the north, Danang in the central region, and the Cai Mep-Thi Vai complex in the south. The carrier handles over one million TEUs of Vietnamese import and export cargo annually. Participation in the Can Gio project is expected to further consolidate MSC's strategic network footprint within the Southeast Asian market.