Majority carriers and minority carriers

Tuan issued this directive at a Tuesday meeting with Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) and the airport’s management board in Ho Chi Minh City.

He said the agencies must prepare to cope with the influx of air passengers and take steps to avoid congestion in the security screening area.

“The airport’s security area must increase its maximum capacity and mobilize more employees to serve passengers to avoid overcrowding that recently happened in the area,” Tuan said.

The domestic terminal at the country’s largest airport has seen frequent overcrowding over the past week, forcing passengers to queue up for hours at the security screening area . Between April 14 and 19, the airport saw up to 80,000 passengers a day.

Tuan also asked the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) to check the number of hourly flights at major airports as the passenger congestion was also triggered by carriers accumulating or canceling flights.

Passengers’ medical declarations was another reason. Tuan agreed that security forces are not tasked with checking passengers’ medical declaration as has been done so far. Instead, this should be the responsibility of the airline staff.

Nguyen Duc Hung, deputy general director of ACV, explained that the recent overcrowding at Tan Son Nhat was related to the limited capacity in the security screening area.

In the A and B lobbies, the airport is equipped to handle over 3,300 passengers an hour. However, from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. last Saturday, the number of passengers waiting for security checks in the two lobbies was more than 5,100, exceeding the capacity by 25-35 percent.

Another factor in the recent overcrowding was a policy to random check 10 percent of passengers. Dinh Viet Thang, head of CAAV, said the random checks were meant as an additional security and safety measure.

To resolve the issue, ACV has been operating the security screening system to their maximum capacity and moved five security scanners from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. Airport authorities have also adjusted the number of flights during the peak hours to reduce congestion at the airport.

The Tan Son Nhat airport has been serving 36 million passengers a year since 2017, well above its capacity. Construction of a third terminal will begin this October.

With Vietnam having contained its latest Covid-19 outbreak, domestic air travel has returned to normal. The latest outbreak occurred in late January, just a few weeks before the Lunar New Year holiday, forcing many people to cancel travel plans.

Short- and long-term weaknesses of painting the M&A target on select Vietnamese textile and garment producers

Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, general secretary of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, said that foreign investors are purchasing shares and making capital contributions into Vietnamese textile companies to capitalise on the global textile and garment market. Given the impact of COVID-19 and their long-standing weaknesses, several Vietnamese textile enterprises are struggling, setting them up as potential M&A targets.

At present, Vietnam is home to 7,000 textile and garment companies. Over 80 per cent of whom are small- and medium-sized enterprises limited by a lack of capital, technology, skilled workforce and good governance. Meanwhile, foreign-invested companies are equipped with modern technology, experts, strong financial capability, and have a stable market for their projects.

Meanwhile, Vu Kim Hanh, chairwoman of the Vietnam High-Quality Goods Association said that Vietnamese textile and garment firms have yet to catch up with the digitalisation trend. Many are confused about digital marketing and online sale. Due to their small scale, local firms cannot fulfil large orders. They remain weak in design and branding, making it difficult to increase added value and raise the competitiveness in the market.

She expected that the participation of strategic investors via M&A will help Vietnamese firms address the challenges and scale up in the future.

E-Land, Korea’s first and largest integrated fashion and retail company, has been a strategic partner of Thanh Cong Textile Garment Investment Trading JSC for over the past 10 years by holding a 30 per cent stake at the local firm.

E-Land has steadily increased its ownership to 43.26 per cent to become the largest foreign strategic investor in Thanh Cong Textile, making significant contributions to improving corporate restructuring and governance. Thanh Cong Textile has seen its after-tax profit growing six-fold since E-Land’s investment.

In 2018, Japanese trading house Itochu has increased its stakes in Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) to nearly 15 per cent by investing $46.9 million with an aim to turn the country into a textile export hub for Europe. Itochu is now the second-largest stakeholder in Vinatex after the Vietnamese government.

Itochu exports a little over ¥60 billion ($553 million) worth of apparel from Vietnam a year, half of which is produced by Vinatex. The company aims to raise outsourced production and exports to ¥100 billion ($922 million) by 2021.

The outlook for Vietnam’s textile and garment exports is brighter in 2021 as the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement has taken effect. There is also a higher demand for “Made in Vietnam” fabrics as big brands are increasingly sourcing fabrics from Vietnam than China. The fabric prices are steadily increasing this year, improving the profit margins of local firms.

In the past two years, there have not been so many M&A deals in the textile and garment industry. The majority of buyers scooped up around 10-15 per cent stake in Vietnamese companies as an investment rather than holding a controlling stake.

By Thanh Van

A medical staff of Nghệ An Province General Friendship Hospital receives COVID-19 vaccine shot on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Bích Huệ

HÀ NỘI — A total of 14,386 people, mostly frontline medical staff, received COVID-19 vaccine shots on Tuesday, bringing the total number of vaccinated people in the country to 106,929 in 27 localities in the two phases of the vaccination drive, according to a report released on Wednesday by the health ministry.

Việt Nam is pressing ahead with the 800,000 AstraZeneca doses received from COVAX Facility in the second phase of the national vaccination campaign (with the first phase using 110,000 AstraZeneca doses bought from the manufacturer) and plans to administer all of the doses before May 31, the expiration date of the batch from COVAX.

Also on Tuesday, Tuyên Quang, Bình Định and Vĩnh Long provinces started their inoculation campaigns.

Việt Nam recorded no new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday morning, keeping the national tally at 2,801, according to the Ministry of Health.

Out of the total patients, 2,490 have been given the all-clear, while the death toll remains at 35.

Among patients still under treatment, 12 have tested negative for the coronavirus once, 11 twice and 17 three times.

Meanwhile, 39,385 people are under quarantine nationwide, including 514 at hospitals, 23,870 at concentrated quarantine facilities and 14,991 at their residences.

The northern province of Hải Dương, the hotspot in Việt Nam’s third wave from late January to March, has went 27 days without any new domestically transmitted infections, while major cities like Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Quảng Ninh, HCM City have gone more than two months without new local cases. VNS

One hundred young men representing Lạc Long Quân’s and Âu Cơ’s 100 children in ancient costumes, hold their flags up high, expressing the vitality of the offspring of the fairy and dragon. According to legend, mother fairy Âu Cơ gave birth to a pouch filled with 100 eggs, which soon hatched into 100 beautiful children. It’s believed that these 100 sons are the ancestors of all Vietnamese people. In Phú Thọ Province, the Hùng Temple is where people celebrate the lineage of the Hùng Kings – all descendants of Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HÀ NỘI — The main festival day commemorating the death anniversary of the Hùng Vương (Hùng Kings), considered the founders of Việt Nam, began yesterday with an incense offering ceremony at the main temple complex in the northern province of Phú Thọ.

At 6am on Wednesday morning, the 10th day of the third lunar month, President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc – along with representatives from the Party, State and Government, as well as people from across the country – started the pilgrimage at the central square at the foot of Mount Nghĩa Lĩnh and made their way up to the Đền Thượng (High Temple) at the top of the mountain.

A unit of the national guard carrying the national flag, the festival flag and a large wreath with the letters “Eternally remembering the Hùng Kings’ founding of the nation”, led the pilgrimage, followed by a group of young women in red traditional áo dài carrying flowers and offerings to the late kings along with 100 young men in ancient-style clothing representing 100 descendants of the Âu Cơ, a mountain fairy, and Lạc Long Quân, a sea dragon lord, who make up the creation myth of Vietnamese people.

Legend has it that the eldest son of Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ was made king. He named the country Văn Lang and set up the capital in Phong Châu (modern-day Việt Trì City), beginning 18 dynasties of Hùng Kings.

Chairman of the Phú Thọ Province People’s Committee Bùi Văn Quang, in his role as head of the ceremony this year, read a speech to commemorate the Hùng Kings, stressing the importance of the death anniversary, praising the merits of the kings and of Âu Cơ and Lạc Long Quân and extolling the perseverance of the ancestors in maintaining the integrity of the country’s sovereignty.

Quang also reported to the spirits of the kings on the major achievements the country has made in đổi mới (reforms), international integration, and socio-economic development.

The Phú Thọ official prayed for the legendary ancestors to send good weather, repel diseases – especially the COVID-19 pandemic, and bring about wealth and happiness for Vietnamese people near and far.

The speech also contained pledges to build a strong and prosperous country and to maintain peace and friendship with all humanity.

State President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (centre) offers incense at the High Temple. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

After offering incense at the High Temple, President Phúc and delegates laid floral tributes at the Hùng Kings Temple, and at the mural ‘Uncle Hồ talking with the vanguard units’ at the crossroad area adjacent to Giếng Temple.

The ceremony and related activities were held with COVID-19 precautions in place, though crowds of people proved hard to control and resulted in congestion around the highest temple.

The worship of the Hùng Kings was recognised as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013.

The kings chose Nghĩa Lĩnh Mountain, the highest in the region, to perform rituals devoted to rice and sun deities to pray for healthy crops.

To honour their contributions to the nation, a complex of temples dedicated to the kings was built on Nghĩa Lĩnh Mountain, and the tenth day of the third lunar month serves as the national commemorative anniversary for the kings.

An estimated 20,000 Vietnamese from all corners of the country arrived in Phú Thọ to pay their tributes in the morning.

A procession in HCM City’s temple dedicated to Hùng Kings on the campus of the National History-Culture Park. — VNA/VNS Photo

Some 1,000 security personnel were deployed to maintain order at the complex and divert visitors from overwhelmed areas to other monuments, museums and temple at the site.

Many localities in the country, including HCM City, Cần Thơ and Đà Lạt, also held ceremonies to pay their respects to the legendary founders.

The festival ends on Thursday. — VNS