Ports far from the city in Ho Chi Minh City

Note on the source. This source should be read with caution: it may be funded by the sector, a draft or a thesis, or rely on self-reported or modelled data. See the limitations below.

The question

What factors determine Ho Chi Minh City's competitiveness as a cruise port of call, and how do connection problems between distant ports and the city, together with fragmented governance, limit it?

The method

Qualitative study: 20 semi-structured interviews (45-90 minutes) with public officials, cruise line representatives, tour operators, port service providers and academics, conducted between February and April 2025, plus field observations at ports and attractions. Thematic analysis following Grounded Theory (78 initial codes, 12 categories, 8 dimensions).

What the study finds

up to 3 hoursfor the Phu My–city centre round tripPhu My Port is 65 km from the city centre: according to the operators interviewed, peak-hour expressway traffic adds average delays of 45-60 minutes and the round trip can take up to 3 hours.

150,000cruise passengers received by the city in 2024According to city tourism office figures cited in the study, the city received 150,000 cruise passengers in 2024 and has 188 heritage sites.

≈ −40%vehicle distance with cultural hubs (estimate)The authors suggest that creating cultural hubs 15-20 minutes from the ports would cut vehicle distance travelled by about 40%; this is an estimate given without calculations or sources.

−30–50%transfer emissions with electrification (estimate)Transfers use diesel buses, partly because secondary ports lack charging points for electric vehicles. Citing studies on the electric transition in South-East Asia, the authors indicate that electrification could cut emissions by 30-50% (an estimate not verified in the text, with a poorly matching reference).

Long transfers leave room for very few stops: one operator says that after arriving from Hiep Phuoc Port there is barely time for two stops; another proposes small hubs with museums and cafés near the ports so tourists need not travel to the centre.
Interviewees report that signs only in Vietnamese and few staff able to speak other languages make it hard for visitors to find their way on their own.
A key barrier is the fragmentation of responsibilities among port authorities, operators and local government; the authors suggest working groups or inter-agency committees dedicated to cruising to better coordinate decisions.

Why it matters for ports and cities

The case shows what happens when terminals are far from the city: much of the time ashore is spent on transfers, with fewer visits and, according to interviewees, fewer spending opportunities and more emissions. For ports with outlying berths it suggests bringing the offer closer to the port, coordinating the bodies involved and providing multilingual information and signage.

Limitations

Small, selected sample (20 informants, no cruise passengers interviewed); data on travel times and delays are reported by operators, not measured. The reduction estimates (−40%, −30-50%) are not calculated in the study.

Full reference and source

Tran, T. T., Nguyen, P. H., Mohamad, B., Nguyen, T. K. T., Nguyen, T. L. C., Le, T. H. (2025). Port-city mobility challenges in Ho Chi Minh City: cruise tourism infrastructure, stakeholder governance, and sustainable urban transitions. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 7:1679677.

Read the original study ↗

Summary written by the ODYBOAT Observatory in our own words. Tables and figures belong to the authors.