Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) has developed scenarios under which they would restructure resources and reduce costs in a bid to cope with market difficulties amid negative impacts from the COVID-19 outbreaks, especially in the Chinese market.

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) 

It would also promote marketing activities in the less affected markets, such as Europe and other Southeast Asian countries, a Vinalines representative told local media.

Vinalines estimated it would lose 992 billion VND (42.6 million USD) in seaport-related revenue and 224 billion VND (9.6 million USD) in profit in the first two quarters of 2020 because of the COVID-19 epidemic.

The firm calculated that sea logistics revenue would fall by 600 billion VND (25.8 million USD).

In the first six months of the year, seaport output is estimated to fall by nearly 19 million tonnes.

With the debts the firm’s shipbuilding sector is currently owing, the poor business result would make the repayment of principal and interest an extremely difficult task, said the representative.

According to the representative of Vinalines, it has asked the Government, ministries and departments to support enterprises with better tax policies, as well as called banks to reduce lending interest rates and reschedule debts to help overcome the difficulties.

Earlier this month, the firm said it aimed to handle more than 108 million tonnes of goods via ports, up 1.9 percent from last year.