Phu My, the gateway port for Ho Chi Min city (Saigon), lies on the Saigon river, a tributary of the Mekong Delta. Our journey took us 20+ miles up-river to a deserted container terminal, one of several in the section of the river. It is a long bus journey Ho Chi Min city. Ships with a less deep draft can make it almost all the way up there, however not us, unfortunately. I did not have time to go ashore, however the ‘ladies’ and Larry managed to do so. Their destination was Vung Tau, far nearer by car and in fact we pass it during our river transit.
The time-lapse up-river
Fish farms
Laura, Larry and Karen
A ‘Triple E’ container ship, using the same channel as we did. One of the largest container ships in the world, 400m long, 40m wide
We pass her outbound
Then our outbound journey, retracing our track of the morning, this time a chance of photos, before the light failed.
At the berth. The ship ahead is unloading soya bean from Canada
Looking across the terminal
A ship undergoing a dry-dock
Barges take the containers, unloaded from large ships and transport them up-river
Our departure time-lapse
I write this from Singapore, it is the first time I have had an opportunity to download and write. We have transited about 30% of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Any vessel going east or west has to pass through the narrow ‘choke point’ and as a consequence one has to be ever-alert. This evening we head for Port Klang, the gateway port for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and again we’ll be in the thick of it.
