According to the General Department of Customs, in 2022, the output and export turnover of wood pellets has increased sharply. Only in the first 6 months of the year, the export volume of wood pellets has reached nearly 2.4 million tons with a turnover of 354 million USD. If the growth rate is maintained as the current rate, export turnover in the whole of 2022 could reach about 700 million USD. In the future, wood pellets have the potential to enter the group of export agricultural and forestry products with an export turnover of more than 1 billion USD. The demand for wood pellets in the world market is increasing strongly. The increasing in the demand for quantity and the price per unit of product, which is the driving force to stimulate the expansion of domestic production.
(Quang Ninh Port in the last months of 2022)
Quang Ninh port is one of the first international seaports in the North of Vietnam to operate wood pellets. In the early days, with the operated planning of opening bottom of jumbo bags, the handling capacity of the whole vessel was only 1,300 tons/day. Over time, Quang Ninh Port has constantly researched and improved cargo handling equipment to increase vessel’s handling capacity and service quality, the current capacity of handling wood pellets vessel has reached 10,000 tons. /day/voyage. In response to the trust, also in 2022, customers increased the size of their vessels and brought Panamax vessels into the port to receive 45,000 tons of cargo right from the first operated voyage of this type of vessel. Compared to the first time operating wood pellets, the port can only operate small vessels with the output of only 3,500 tons. These are impressive numbers of output and productivity for wood pellets at the port, showing that the port has been constantly changing, improving, and applying modern technology in the operation of this product.
(MV. SUNNY WIND handled cargo by the method of using conveyors and specialized forklifts)
On November 8, 2022, Quang Ninh Port received and operated MV. SUNNY WIND with a capacity of 9,620 tons. This is the first vessel to apply new operated equipment: a specialized car lift combined with a conveyor to load goods on board. This option has achieved a capacity of up to 5,000 tons/day/hold, achieving the highest productivity among all options for handling wood pellets at Quang Ninh Port. This operated plan is also being applied at many ports around the world. Currently, for wood pellets, Quang Ninh Port is using other operated methods, such as jumbo bags with bottom opening (capacity of 1,200 tons/day/trough) and cranes with bottom-opening containers (4,000 tons/day) /trough) to meet the diverse and increasing needs of customers.