The stranding of the 400m-long container ship Ever Given in the Suez Canal where over 10% of global cargo and 7% of the world’s oil are transshipped is raising concerns about visible impacts on export activities of several Vietnamese enterprises, despite initial successes in the attempt to rescue this megaship.

The 200,000-ton MV Ever Given veered off course in the Suez Canal from March 23-29. The incident causes global economic losses of up to US$9 billion each day, worsening the supply chain which is seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the first two months of 2021, Viet Nam’s export and import from Europe reached US$7.5 billion and US$3.1 billion, up 18% and 12%, respectively against the same period last year. 

Last year, Viet Nam earned US$ 43.7 billion from exporting goods to Europe and imported US$ 18.5 billion of goods.

So far, commodity exchanges between Viet Nam and Europe are chiefly made by sea via Suez Canal while a small amount of cargo transported by air and rail, thus the blockage posed heavy impacts on trade activities between the two sides.