Among those selected to attend the project are customs agents and 200 out of 50,000 businesses in HCMC. The selected firms are those well complying with the customs law, posting large import turnover and much contributing to the city budget.
In 2018, these 200 businesses posted the import turnover of US$21.7 billion accounting for 38.58 percent of total import turnover, paid VND54.76 trillion (US$2.36 billion) in taxes and contributed to 50.5 percent of state budget revenue at the HCMC Customs Department.
During the project implementation time, there is a separate area for these businesses to do procedures 24/7. Customs clearance procedures are implemented right at wharf, goods are examined with container scanners and presentation of paper documents is limited in customs clearance and freight forwarding procedures. Businesses can supervise the customs clearance process online with their smart phones.
Head of the HCMC Customs Department Dinh Ngoc Thang said that the volume of export and import goods through Cat Lai port approximates 14,000 containers a day. The project helps save VND2 million ($86) a container in logistics activities. This contributes to reducing common costs for the society as businesses can optimize their production and trading plans, improve competitive ability and save transport cost.
